Two UK soldiers killed in Basra
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Two British soldiers have been killed in an ambush on a British military convoy in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Britain's defense ministry says.
Two British armored Land Rovers and a logistics vehicle were traveling in a convoy in the southwest of the city when they were attacked, a defense spokesman told CNN.
The first vehicle, a Land Rover, was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, he said. As soldiers from the second vehicle were trying to rescue those hit, they came under attack from small arms fire, and a small-arms fight broke out.
The two casualties from the Land Rover later died in the Basra military hospital at Shaibah.
Their names and units were withheld pending notification of their families.
Hospital officials in Basra told Reuters that at least two Iraqi bystanders were also injured in the attack.
The deaths bring the number of British soldiers killed in combat in Iraq to 25.
They came on the day that British Prime Minister Tony Blair was giving a keynote speech to the annual conference of his ruling Labour Party. (Full story)
