IRAN GIVES ..AND IRAN TAKES AWAY ; TWO WOMEN SOLDIERS AMONG DEAD IN ROADSIDE BOMBING AS 15 SAILORS F

Apr 06, 01:39 AM

Current Headlines: By Gavin Cordon

TERRORIST allies of Iran killed four British soldiers yesterday ... as the 15 seized UK sailors prepared to fly home from their Iranian prison.

The troops, two of them women, died when a roadside bomb tore apart their Warrior armoured vehicle in the Iraqi city of Basra. A Kuwaiti translator was also killed.

The attack came just hours after Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad freed the captive sailors as an "Easter gift" to Britain.

But British commanders in Iraq are unimpressed by Ahmadinejad's "goodwill". They are convinced that Iran arms and trains many of the rebels killing our troops.

One of the women killed yesterday was from the Intelligence Corps and the other was a member of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. The two male soldiers who died were from the Royal Army Medical Corps and the 2nd Battalion, Duke ofLancaster's Regiment.

A fifth soldier in the Warrior was seriously injured.

As the families of the victims grieved, Tony Blair publicly hit out at Iran, accusing "elements of the regime" of "backing, financing and arming terrorism in Iraq".

The Prime Minister stopped short of blaming Tehran for the latest attack. But he made it clear that he agrees with his generals about Iran's terrorist links.

Speaking in Downing Street, Blair said: "Just as we rejoice at the return of our 15 personnel, today we also grieve and mourn for the loss of our soldiers in Basra, who were killed as a result of a terrorist act.

"On the one hand, we are glad that our service personnel have returned unharmed from their captivity.

"But on the other, we return to the sober and ugly reality of what is happening through terrorism in Iraq."

Blair said it was "too early to say" whether the killers of the four soldiers were directly backed by Iran.

But he added: "The general picture, as I have said before, is there are elements - at least - of the Iranian regime that are backing, financing, arming terrorism in Iraq."

The four soldiers were killed at 2am yesterday while on patrol in a convoy of vehicles in a north-western suburb of Basra. The slum area is controlled by the Mahdi Army - a Shia Muslim militia with links to Iran.

The destroyed Warrior was hit by a massive explosion, which left a crater a metre deep and several metres across.

Witnesses said a second Army vehicle was also damaged. One onlooker said: "We heard two explosions that shook the house.

"I went out and saw one armoured vehicle that was completely destroyed and another with less damage.

"I saw some soldiers being taken away, but I don't know how many."

After the bombing, rebels with assault rifles and rocket- propelled grenades attacked British troops.

The soldiers returned fire and also stormed a nearby police checkpoint and disarmed the men stationed there.

Elements of the local police have been widely infiltrated by the Mahdi Army and other militias.

A total of 140 British servicemen and women have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. Six UK troops have been killed in a week.

Four women have now died in action in Iraq. Flight with four comrades last year in a helicopter crash in Basra.

And in November, Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott,34, of the Intelligence Corps, was one of four Brits killed in an attack on a boat patrol on the Shatt Al Arab waterway.

British officials have been accusing Iran's Revolutionary Guards since 2005 of training terrorists in Iraq.

It's also claimed that the Iranians supply insurgents with hi- tech explosives for roadside bombs.

Experts say much of the support for the terrorists is provided by the Quds brigade, a shadowy Revolutionary Guard unit run by Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In the last 12 months, Britain and America have also accused Iran of directing attacks on their forces.

And British officers in Basra claimed recently that Iranian agents are paying local fighters to target UK soldiers. The Iranians deny all the claims.

Tehran is also on a collision course with the West over its nuclear programme. Blair said yesterday that the world had to remain "steadfast" in standing up to Iran.

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