ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Four days after the U.N. bombing in Baghdad, more violence broke out today in Basra. This time, the target, British forces. CNN'S Ben Wedeman has the latest from Baghdad.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bloody day for British forces in Iraq. Three killed, one seriously wounded, after their vehicles came under a hail of automatic machine gun fire from unknown assailants. Bringing to 10 the number of British soldiers killed in Iraq since President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat almost four months ago. 11,000 British troops are stationed in southern Iraq. In Baghdad, U.N. staff went back to work in temporary accommodations. At least 22 were killed in last Tuesday's bombing of U.N. headquarters here. A video statement by a group calling itself the Army of Mohammed, claimed one of its units was behind the attack. The statement, aired on the Lebanese Broadcast Corporation, insisted the perpetrators were native Iraqis and not from outside the country, as suggested by coalition officials. Meanwhile, chief coalition administrator L. Paul Bremer III declared at a press conference that he was bringing, in his words, "a swelling tide of goods news about the gradual restoration of public services to pre-war levels." He did, however, try to link the attack on U.N. headquarters to another of Washington's international preoccupations.</s>PAUL BREMER, CHIEF COALITION ADMINISTRATOR: It's part of a global war on terrorism, which was declared on the United States September 11 two years ago. And it is now, unfortunately, the case that Iraq has become one of the fields of battle in this global war.</s>WEDEMAN: Investigators are looking into the possibility the bombers had assistance from some of the U.N.'s local security guards. (on camera): The Bush administration's vision for Iraq did not include this country becoming a battlefield in the war on terror. Just another unexpected twist in a country which has seen more than its fair share of surprises. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Baghdad.
Three British Soldiers Killed in Iraq