Iraq protesters decry alleged beatings by British

BASRA, Iraq -- More than 1,000 protesters burned a British flag yesterday and the regional administration in Iraq's main southern province severed all ties with British authorities over video footage showing British soldiers allegedly beating and kicking Iraqi youths.

In London, the British Defense Ministry announced the arrest of two more people in connection with the images. Another person, apparently the man who shot the video, was arrested Monday.

Protesters, many of them supporters of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, marched on the British consulate in Basra, where they burned a British flag and shouted slogans against the alleged abuse of the youths during a riot Jan. 10, 2004, in the southern city of Amarah.

With outrage over the video mounting, the governing council for Basra province, which includes Iraq's huge southern oil fields, announced it was cutting all ties with British military and civilian operations in the area, headquarters of Britain's more than 8,000-member military contingent in Iraq.

The Basra police chief, Major General Hassan Suwadi, said Iraqi security forces would cease joint patrols with the British military in the province to protest the alleged abuse.

Elsewhere, gunmen killed 11 Shi'ite farmers north of Baghdad, including eight members of one family, officials said. A US Marine was killed and six coalition personnel were wounded in two attacks in Baghdad.