Embassy Aide Among 9 Americans Killed in Insurgent Attacks in Iraq

Lorimer said that the Iraqi interior minister had personally ordered the British personnel released and that the order was ignored. Instead, he said, the two were handed over to a local Shiite Muslim militia.

"I became concerned about the safety of the soldiers after we received information that they had been handed over to militia elements," Lorimer said. "As a result, I took the difficult decision to order entry to the Jamiat police station."

British troops set a cordon around the station and were attacked with "firebombs and rockets by a violent and determined crowd," Lorimer said. An armored vehicle plowed through one wall of a building, but the men were not found inside. They were later discovered in a house elsewhere in the city.

"It is of deep concern that British soldiers held by the police should end up being held by militia," Lorimer said. "This is unacceptable, and I should stress that we won't hesitate to take action against those involved in planning and conducting attacks against coalition forces."

Police officials in Basra have said publicly that the primary loyalty of many of their officers is to Shiite militias such as the Badr Organization, which is affiliated with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's dominant Shiite political party. Unrest erupted in Basra this week after the arrest of two members of the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to the outspoken Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and a rival of the Badr group.

Lorimer did not specify which militia he believed was involved in the British detentions.

Elsewhere in Iraq on Tuesday, government officials said that residents of the northwestern city of Tall Afar who fled during a large U.S.-Iraqi offensive against insurgents this month had been invited to return to their homes and that about $50 million would soon be spent to help rebuild the city.

Abadi, the prime minister's spokesman, said more than 800 suspected insurgents were killed or captured during the operation -- the largest urban assault since the offensive in Fallujah in November.

"The terrorists have received a deadly blow in Tall Afar," Abadi said. He cautioned, however, that intelligence indicated some insurgents were attempting to slip back into the city among returning residents.

Fourteen civilians were killed and 25 wounded during the fighting, he said, adding that residents whose homes and property were damaged would be compensated. The government is also establishing five police stations in a city largely devoid of police presence for much of the past year, he said.

"We have information that some of the terrorists infiltrated the refugee camps," said Brig. Gen. Abdul Aziz Muhammed-Jassim, commander of the Defense Ministry operations room. "Thus, the process of checking people at the entrances to the city is very important to make sure they don't enter the city again."

Abadi said Tall Afar would be secure enough for citizens to vote in the Oct. 15 referendum on Iraq's draft constitution. In Baghdad on Tuesday, the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni Muslim political organization, announced in a written statement its "total rejection" of the constitution and urged followers to vote against it. Party leaders had previously suggested they might remain neutral.

Sunnis are widely expected to oppose the constitution, which will fail if two-thirds of voters in at least three provinces vote against it. Among several aspects of the document opposed by many Sunnis is the devolution of power from the central government to regions, a process some fear could lead to Iraq's dissolution.

"We appeal to the people's will represented by the patriotic forces, the civil society institutions and individuals to exercise their rights in rejecting this draft," the party's statement said.

Also Tuesday, the U.S. military announced the arrest of two men with medical training who are suspected of being senior members of al Qaeda in Iraq, the country's main insurgent group. Anis Abdul Razaq Ali Muhammad and Mazen Mahdi Salih Mahdi Khudayr are alleged to have established facilities to treat wounded insurgent fighters and were apprehended in raids in Baghdad in late August, the military said.

Special correspondents Naseer Nouri and Bassam Sebti in Baghdad contributed to this report.