British tanks smash Iraqi jail to free UK soldiers

British tanks smashed the walls of an Iraqi prison to free two undercover British soldiers seized earlier yesterday by Iraqi forces, an Interior Ministry official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said half a dozen tanks had crushed the walls of the jail in the southern city of Basra and British troops freed the soldiers. The governor of Basra confirmed the jail had been broken into.

Dozens of Iraqi prisoners at the jail escaped at the same time, the Interior Ministry official said.

Britain's Ministry of Defence and the British embassy in Baghdad said they had no information. British forces in Basra were not immediately reachable for comment. The two British soldiers, said to be working undercover and in civilian clothes, were arrested by Iraqi forces following a shoot-out in Basra, Iraq's second largest city which is under the control of British troops.

In the shoot-out, at least two Iraqis were killed. Following the arrest of the men, Iraqis attacked British armoured vehicles in the city, throwing petrol bombs at one tank, forcing soldiers to jump free of the burning vehicle.