BASRA, Iraq - Iraqi police have detained two British soldiers believed to be working undercover in the southern port city of Basra following a shooting incident, British military and Iraqi security officials said Monday.
"We can confirm that the Iraqi authorities are holding two UK service personnel and we are liaising with the Iraqi authorities on this matter," a British military spokesman told AFP by telephone from Basra.
An Iraqi interior ministry official said British forces had phoned the ministry in Baghdad to say the two detained soldiers were involved in "an intelligence mission".
British forces earlier Monday surrounded a police station in the centre of Basra after Iraqi police refused to release the two men, an AFP photographer at the scene said.
The British forces were themselves surrounded by demonstrators who threw stones and British soldiers fired warning shots, he said.
Demonstrators then set fire to two British tanks. British soldiers jumped from the tanks and withdrew without returning fire.
It was not immediately known if there were any injuries.
A Basra policeman, who declined to be named, said the two British servicemen detained were undercover soldiers, wearing Arab dress, who allegedly fired at a police patrol before being forced to stop.
Pictures taken at the scene where the men were detained showed their car, a plain white Nissan, with its front doors wide open.
At a recent military briefing in Basra, an AFP correspondent was told British soldiers had been ordered not to stop at Iraqi police checkpoints because of fears that rebels could be posing as Iraqi police.
In another incident Sunday, angry armed Shiite militiamen from the outlawed Mehdi Army demonstrated in central Basra after British soldiers arrested their local leader on charges of terrorism.
British forces confirmed they had arrested "three prominent individuals".
"The operation is the result of an ongoing multinational force investigation that identified individuals believed to be responsible for organising terrorist attacks against multinational forces," a British military statement said.
Three British soldiers and six coalition members have been killed in attacks in the usually relatively calm Basra area over the past two months.
It was not immediately known if there was any link between the incidents on Sunday and Monday.
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