Iraq violence spreads

BAGHDAD (CTNOW) – British armored vehicles patrolled Basra’s streets as crowds barricaded roads and hurled chunks of concrete at passing cars in a second day of demonstrations. British forces guarded gasoline stations and rationed fuel in an effort to contain the violence.

Two Iraqis and a Nepalese security guard were killed and seven were wounded in a city that up until the weekend had been relatively peaceful. US officials had praised the reconstruction and security efforts by the British-run administration in Iraq’s largest southern city.

Residents of the region said tanker trucks were stolen at gunpoint Sunday and Iraqi police fled the violent confrontations.

Also Sunday, attacks on US forces in Baghdad and Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit wounded six American soldiers, the military said. Two other soldiers died of non-combat-related causes.