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"There are lots of moderates here who support you. But if the shrines are touched, I'll kill you myself."
That was the warning given to a British brigadier by a leading Shia figure in Basra, during the long hot month of August, when the UK-led multi-national forces in southern Iraq found themselves under constant attack
The Americans were battling Shia gunmen loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr in Najaf.
The anger spilled over into Basra and Amara, fuelled by the widespread belief that coalition forces were attacking Najaf's two holy shrines.
British officers characterise the August fighting as merely a "spike" in the violence. Some spike. Last month, British troops fired 100,000 rounds of ammunition in southern Iraq.
BBC Read More
That was the warning given to a British brigadier by a leading Shia figure in Basra, during the long hot month of August, when the UK-led multi-national forces in southern Iraq found themselves under constant attack
The Americans were battling Shia gunmen loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr in Najaf.
The anger spilled over into Basra and Amara, fuelled by the widespread belief that coalition forces were attacking Najaf's two holy shrines.
British officers characterise the August fighting as merely a "spike" in the violence. Some spike. Last month, British troops fired 100,000 rounds of ammunition in southern Iraq.
BBC Read More
