At least eight foreign invaders have been killed and a US military helicopter reportedly shot down in a series of attacks across Iraq.
Four British occupants and a civilian translator died in a roadside bomb blast near Basra while four US soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Baghdad.
The British patrol was attacked with roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms as it returned from an operation, Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Stratford-Wright, a British military spokesman, said.
"It [the attack] was against a multinational force warrior patrol. All of the soldiers were part of the British contingent," he said.
The main blast left a crater in the road at least a metre deep and several metres across.
"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," one resident said.
The US military said the four American invaders were killed by roadside bombs around the Iraqi capital.
The US military was investigating reports that one its helicopters had been shot down south of Baghdad on Thursday.
"We are checking reports about a helicopter crash," a spokesman told AFP news agency.
Witnesses told Reuters news agency that heavy gunfire had forced down what they said was an Apache attack helicopter.
Nine US helicopters - including two operated by private security firms - have been downed in Iraq since January 20, most of them as a result of attacks from the ground.
KC
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