British Defence Secretary John Reid said on Wednesday Iraqi insurgents would launch more "vicious" attacks on coalition forces and civilians ahead of a general election for a new government in December, Reuters reported. "As things get steadily better in Iraq, there will be a period during which the terrorists will become more fanatic, more vicious and we have already seen it," Reid, who is on a two-day visit to India, told a news conference. Besides fighting American, British and other coalition troops, the rebels were trying to ignite a civil war, he said. Britain has hundreds of soldiers in southern Iraq and 95 have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Reid said British troops would stay in Iraq as long as it took Iraqis to build a democratic political framework. --SP 2243 Local Time 1943 GMT
