Article # 1: Iraq ambush kills 4 U.K. soldiers, Kuwaiti

Four British soldiers and a Kuwaiti interpreter were killed Thursday in an ambush in southern Iraq. The patrol struck a roadside bomb and was hit by small-arms fire about 2 a.m. in the Hayaniyah district west of Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. It was the biggest loss of life for British forces since Nov. 12, when four were killed in an attack on a Multi-National Forces boat patrol on the Shatt Al-Arab waterway in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that Britain will withdraw about 1,600 troops from Iraq over the next few months and hopes to make other cuts to its 7,100-strong contingent by late summer.
Thursday’s attack also came as 15 British sailors and marines held captive for nearly two weeks left Iran aboard a commercial flight bound for London, ending a standoff that began when they were detained off the southern Iraqi coast. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced their surprise release on Wednesday.