| Followers of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have blamed British forces for the coordinated series of car bombs which killed 73 people in the southern Iraqi city of Basra yesterday. Several Iraqi policemen in uniform have joined the followers in protests. The coalition say the attacks bore all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda, but Sadr's spokesman in Basra, Sheikh al-Bahadli, told the 300 supporters gathered in front of his office that there was evidence that British occupation forces were involved. The targets of the attacks were Iraqi police stations and a uniformed policeman who joined the protest said "the British were the ones who attacked us". "Now we are with our religious leaders," the policeman said. Another policeman said many of his fellow officers were ready to fight alongside Sadr's Mehdi army. |