U.S. toll in Iraq   ● Killed: 1,902   ● Wounded: 14,479   Latest identifications   ● No casualties identified Monday.   Source: Department of Defense. Deaths as of Monday. Wounded as of Sept. 13.

BASRA, Iraq - British armored vehicles broke down the walls of the central jail in this southern city Monday and freed two British soldiers, allegedly undercover commandos arrested for shooting two Iraqi policemen, witnesses said. But London said the two men were released as a result of negotiations, although officials acknowledged that a wall was demolished. The different versions of events came on a chaotic day that raised questions about how much sovereignty Iraqi authorities really were granted when the U.S.-led Coalition Provision Authority handed over power to an interim Iraqi government last summer. The arrests of the two British soldiers Monday appeared to have been the first real and public test of how far that sovereignty extends. There have been no known incidents of Iraqi authorities arresting U.S. soldiers operating in the Iraqi heartland. Mohammed al-Waili, governor of Basra province, condemned the British for raiding the prison, an act he called "barbaric, savage and irresponsible" "A British force of more than 10 tanks backed by helicopters attacked the central jail and destroyed it. This is an irresponsible act," al-Waili said, adding that the British force had spirited the prisoners away to an unknown location. Aquil Jabbar, an Iraqi television cameraman who lives across the street from the Basra jail, said about 150 Iraqi prisoners fled as British commandos stormed inside and rescued their comrades. According to the BBC, Defense officials insisted they had been talking to the Iraqi authorities to secure the release of the men but acknowledged a wall was demolished as British forces tried to "collect" the two prisoners. The latest violence in the oil city of Basra, 340 miles south of the capital, began early Monday when local authorities reported arresting the two Britons, described as special forces commandos dressed in Arab clothing, for allegedly shooting two Iraqi policemen, one of whom died. British armor then encircled the jail where the two Britons were held. A melee broke out in the streets as angry demonstrators attacked the British armor with stones and Molotov cocktails. During the chaos, one British soldier could be seen scrambling for his life from a burning Warrior armored personnel carrier and the rock-throwing mob. A British news agency, reported that three British soldiers were hurt during the violence but said none of their injuries was life-threatening. After nightfall, 10 British armored vehicles returned to the jail, crashed through walls and freed the two captives, witnesses said. An Associated Press reporter saw the vehicles smash into the jail. In other violence in Basra, an Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times was killed after men claiming to be police officers abducted him from his home, the newspaper announced Monday. Elsewhere in Iraq on Monday: ● Some 3 million pilgrims - some carrying signs reading "We welcome martyrdom" - jammed the holy city of Karbala for a major Shiite festival in defiance of insurgent declarations of all-out sectarian war. ● In Baghdad, an Iraqi court sentenced one of Saddam Hussein's nephews to life in prison for funding the country's violent insurgency and bomb-making after a previously unannounced trial. U.S. toll in Iraq

 

● Killed: 1,902 ● Wounded: 14,479 Latest identifications

 

● No casualties identified Monday. Source: Department of Defense. Deaths as of Monday. Wounded as of Sept. 13.