British troops went in and busted up a militia compound, rescuing two British soldiers (the Mirror claims they were SAS, but that seems to be speculation) who had been arrested for shooting dead one police officer and wounding another.
Apparently, the British troops just decided "fuck it, let's go get 'em" and used their tanks to batter the walls down.
Oh, and, yeah, that's the militia, y'know, the guys we're supposed to be helping keep law and order.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this. On the one hand I'm pissed off that two of our guys would be arrested by the people they were there to help, and even more pissed off that, upon confirming the two soldier's identities, they did not turn them over to British command. This seemed to me to be a militia flexing its muscles. On the other hand, they did open fire on the police, and that's, well, a crime. And thus, breaking these guys out is a further violation of the law.
I'm drifting towards the former. They're there to help, let them do their job.
BBC NEWS | Middle East | UK soldiers 'freed from militia':
"Two British soldiers whose imprisonment prompted UK troops to storm a Basra police station were later rescued from militia, the Ministry of Defence says.
Brigadier John Lorimer said it was of 'deep concern' the men detained by police ended up held by Shia militia.
Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili said the men - possibly working undercover - were arrested for allegedly shooting dead a policeman and wounding another.
The arrests sparked unrest in which Army vehicles were attacked."
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