Iraq slams Brit jail-break - "It's terrorism" says cop

abc/reuters: .."It is a very unfortunate development that the British forces should try to release their forces the way it happened," Haider al-Ebadi, an adviser to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, told a news conference in Baghdad.

..Mr Ebadi said Iraqi security forces were justified in detaining the pair.

"They were acting very suspiciously like they were watching something and collecting information in civilian clothes in these tense times," he said.

The raid could boost the popularity of Shiite cleric Sadr, who can mobilise thousands of supporters quickly.

"What the two Britons did was literally international terrorism," Ali al-Yassiri, an aide to Sadr, told Reuters.

"If the British had condemned this, it would have calmed the situation but instead they came and demanded them back, which sets a dangerous precedent."

Britain, which has 8,500 troops in Iraq, said on Sunday it would send more if necessary. British soldiers have not drawn as much fury as their US allies, but Iraqi police vented their anger in Basra as they inspected damage from the British raid.

"Four tanks invaded the area. A tank cannon struck a room where a policeman was praying," said policeman Abbas Hassan, standing next to mangled cars outside the police station and jail that he said were crushed by British military vehicles.

"This is terrorism. All we had was rifles." Read more

db: We are looking for substantiation of the British claim that the "undercover soldiers" were handed over to 'militia elements'. It also remains unclear why the British were carrying explosives in the boot of their car - as reported, amongst others, by the Washington Post