Casualties: A British soldier was killed in action near Zubayr, south of Basra, yesterday, bringing the total British dead and missing to 19 on the fifth day of the war. It was Britain's first known combat death to Iraqi fire.
The soldier died after being shot as he tried to calm rioting Iraqi civilians, pool reporter Martin Bentham, of the Sunday Telegraph, reported last night.
He said the soldier, who has not been named, was shot on Sunday evening, and died from his wounds early yesterday.
Officers said the shooting occurred during a "civil disturbance in the Basra area", but declined to give details.
The fatality brings the British death toll to 17 - eight marines died when a helicopter crashed in Kuwait last week; six servicemen were killed when two helicopters collided over the Gulf; and two were killed at the weekend when their Tornado was brought down by "friendly fire" from a US Patriot missile battery.
US forces have suffered heavy casualties in the battle for Nassiriya at the hands of Iraqi irregulars. At least 10 US soldiers were killed in a firefight at the weekend in which 12 troops were injured and 16 missing.
Meanwhile, two British soldiers were reported missing by the Defence Ministry in London after an attack on the convoy their vehicle was travelling with in southern Iraq on Sunday morning.
Efforts are being made to locate and recover the two soldiers, who went missing in action in the Al Zubayr area. Their army Land Rover was ambushed by Iraqi fighters using a rocket-propelled grenade. It is believed they may be dead.
Also among the list of allied forces on the missing list are two US crew of an Apache Longbow helicopter shot down south of Baghdad.
Iraq's Information Minister Mr Mohammed Said Al-Sahhaf said yesterday 62 Iraqis had been killed in the previous 24 hours, and more than 400 had been wounded.
He said 24 Iraqis were dead and 411 injured in bombardments of Baghdad, Karbala, Basra and Babel.
In addition, five people, including one woman, were killed and 28 are injured when a missile hit a densely-populated area of Baghdad.