Suicide Bomber Strikes Basra

BAGHDAD, Oct. 9 -- A suicide bomber struck this morning outside the offices of a prominent Shiite Muslim militia in the southern city of Basra, killing one person and wounding at least three others.

Some media reports described the dead victim as a child. The blast came near a local headquarters of the Badr organization, a militia affiliated with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's dominant Shiite political party and part of the governing coalition.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.

Basra, which was long considered one of Iraq's safest cities, has erupted into various forms of violence in recent weeks.

Clashes have broken out between rival Shiite militias: Badr and the Mahdi Army, which is loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, an outspoken critic of the presence of coalition forces in Iraq.

In late September, British forces responsible for security in the region sparked riots by detaining Sadr supporters and fought pitched battles with local police after two British personnel dressed as civilians were arrested, allegedly carrying large quantities of explosives.

British soldiers forcibly freed the captives after driving a tank through the wall of a police station where they were thought to be held and later discovering them in a nearby house. Iraqi officials criticized the move, but the British said they feared for the men's lives because they had been handed over to militia members.

Two journalists have also been executed since August, allegedly by local militia members who have infiltrated the police force.

Later Sunday morning, dozens of Sadr supporters demonstrated outside the fortified British military headquarters in Basra, demanding the release of 12 men detained two days earlier. The British military said the men, including Uday Talib Kadhum, a regional electricity official, were involved in operations against coalition forces.