A roadside bomb damaged an Australian military vehicle on patrol in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar province on May 13, according to the Australian defence department. It was the second reported attack on Australian troops in Iraq this month.
Australian Associated Press reported on May 8 that "Australian troops have come under attack in southern Iraq, but commander of the troops Lieutenant Colonel Tony Rawlins said no one was hurt". The soldiers were "on a routine security mission in Samawah City, the capital of Al Muthanna province", when a group of three Iraqis fired a rocket-propelled grenade and a short burst of gunfire at them.
Australia has a "battle group" of 540 troops deployed in Iraq's southern provinces of Muthanna and Dhi Qar. An additional 1400 Australian military personnel are deployed in support roles in Jordan, Kuwait and on naval vessels in the Persian Gulf.
On April 26, AAP reported that "Australian troops in Iraq have come under fire for the fifth time in two days as they tried to recover an armoured vehicle destroyed during an earlier roadside bomb attack. The attacks on the Australians mark a serious upsurge in violence in the normally quiet Dhi Qar province of southern Iraq.
"Australia's commander in Iraq on Wednesday [April 25] blamed the attacks near Nasariyah on Shiite militia, possibly from the Mahdi Army of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr.
"The latest incident came on Tuesday night as an Australian patrol was sent to recover the Australian Light Armoured Vehicle (ASLAV) destroyed in an attack on Monday, which left three soldiers injured. But a gun battle erupted as insurgents opened fire with small arms and fired a rocket which hit the burned-out hulk of the ASLAV, the Department of Defence said."
The department also stated that Australian troops had come under attack four times on April 23, including the roadside bomb attack. "One soldier is expected to be flown back to Australia after suffering leg injuries in the attack", AAP reported. There have been no reported Australian combat fatalities in the Iraq war.
Muthanna and Dhi Qar are two of the four predominantly Shiite provinces in southern Iraq in which the foreign occupation forces are under British command. There are 7200 British troops in Iraq, most of them located in or near Basra, Iraq's second largest city.
The April 29 Los Angeles Times reported that, "Once an island of relative tranquillity in the mostly Shiite Muslim south, Basra has suffered a dramatic turnaround in the last two years … Thundering rocket and mortar strikes have become a near-daily occurrence at British bases in this city. British soldiers who once patrolled on foot in berets and no body armor now venture downtown only in armored convoys … Most British officials and troops have retreated to a safer location at the airport on the city's southwestern outskirts."
While gunfights between the militias of rival Shiite religious parties are now commonplace in Basra "British officials say 90% of the violence is directed against them", the LA Times reported.
On May 9, British defence secretary Des Brown revealed that British troops in Iraq had faced a total of 1974 attacks in the 12 months to April 14, an average of six a day. By far the largest number — 1837 — were in Basra province, followed by 76 in Maysan, 36 in Dhi Qar and 25 in Muthanna.
The attacks were said to involve the use of roadside bombs, rockets, mortars, RPGs, assault rifles, petrol bombs or knives. Excluded from the count were attacks on British troops involving stone throwing.
According British defence ministry figures, 43 British soldiers were killed in Iraq during the 12 months to the end of April, bringing the total number of British fatalities to 144 since the March 2003 US-British-Australian invasion.