British troops came under attack from gunmen in the southern city of Basra on Monday but there were no reports of casualties, a British military spokesman said, according to AP. The incident occurred before sunset in central Basra when the Provincial Joint Coordination Center was subjected to small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, said Maj. Matthew Bird. «British troops returned fire at the gunmen,» he said. «I don't believe there were any casualties among our troops.» Residents in the area said they saw helicopters hovering overhead as the clashes when on. Attacks on British positions in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, occur almost daily. The attacks are usually blamed on the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Britain has withdrawn hundreds of troops from Iraq, leaving a force of around 5,500 based mainly on the fringes of Basra.
