Five Iraqi militiamen were wounded in violent clashes Monday with British troops, who tried to evict them from a building they had taken over, a spokesman for their faction said.
"At 9:00 am (0600 GMT), British soldiers came to drive us out from the building with truncheons. During the clashes, five of our members were wounded," said the member of Thaarallah, which means God's Wrath in Arabic.
Thaarallah is one of a plethora of Islamic militias based in this Shiite-majority city, 500 kilometres (300 miles) south of Baghdad, that is under British military control.
According to the source, who requested anonymity, the group's press office is based in the offices of the district branch of the Iraqi women's union. A small protest took place outside the building in central Basra to condemn the British-led operation, said an AFP correspondent. There was no immediate reaction from the British forces.