British airman killed after rocket attack on base in Basra
Saturday, 01 Mar 2008 19:10
British troops handed over control of the Basra province to the Iraqi authorities in December
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A British airman has died in a rocket attack on a military base in Basra, southern Iraq.
The serviceman, who was part of the Royal Air Force's 903 Expeditionary Air Wing, was killed in the attack at about 21:30 local time (18:30 GMT) on Friday night.
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) statement released today said the airman's next of kin had been informed and requested "a period of 24 hour before further details were released".
Friday's attack took place at the Contingency Operating Base and the death takes the total number of UK troops killed in Iraq since 2003 to 175.
In December, British troops handed over control of the Basra province to the Iraqi authorities, over four years after the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The number of British troops stationed in Iraq currently stands at over 4,000, though prime minister Gordon Brown has pledged to reduce that number to 2,500 in the spring.