The soldier was apparently trying to protect others in his vehicle Monday by returning fire from a machine gun mounted on the roof when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). None of those inside was injured.

"Like all the other attacks it was an RPG ambush from the side of the road, which is what we are facing all the time," Lieutenant Colonel Mike Riddell-Webster told the reporter.

Two other British troops were killed and two severely wounded in a friendly fire incident between two of the British army's high-tech Challenger II tanks in fighting outside Basra.

pool-mc/dab

WAR.WIRE