Britain's military met local tribal leaders on Wednesday to ease tensions after residents in the Iraqi town of Majjar blamed arms searches in private homes for triggering the killing of six British troops.

"The feeling is that it was an isolated event," said British military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ronnie McCourt. But some Iraqis said the Shi'ite Muslim town remained volatile after a protest by thousands of residents on Tuesday turned ugly.

Local residents said four Iraqis were killed and 14 wounded in clashes with British forces in the southern town.

Conflicting accounts emerged on the British deaths, the first in a largely peaceful occupation by British forces of mainly Shi'ite southern Iraq since Saddam was toppled on April 9. The troops were military police training Iraqi police.

McCourt said the soldiers were killed in a police station and that the deaths were unprovoked. "It was murder," he said, but gave no further details.

Witnesses said the British fired plastic bullets to control protesters, angry at what they said were aggressive searches in which troops pointed guns at women and children and burst into homes with sniffer dogs. Muslims believe the animals are impure.

One Majjah resident, Nasser Kadhem, said the British troops resorted to live rounds when they came under fire themselves. Two soldiers were killed, he said.

Other residents in the town, some 210 miles southeast of Baghdad, said protesters then stormed the police station and four troops standing on the roof were shot dead.

"I yelled at (the troops) because they pointed their rifles at a child. I told them 'don't do that' but a soldier hit me with the butt of his rifle in the face," said one resident, who declined to give his name. "Then the shooting started."

In another incident in the area on Tuesday, seven British troops were wounded when a helicopter was fired on as it went to aid a military convoy under attack. A soldier in the convoy was wounded.

HEIGHTENED ALERT

McCourt, who rejected Iraqi accusations over the searches, said British forces were now on heightened alert in the region.

Referring to previous relaxed measures by British forces under which they had swapped combat helmets for berets in a hearts-and-minds-drive, he said: "It has changed."

"We expect big trouble in the future," said Ahmad Younis, an Iraqi policeman.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who defied public opinion at home to stand shoulder-shoulder with President Bush in the war to oust Saddam, said there was no question of Britain turning its back on Iraq despite the troop deaths.

The Majjah killings were the worst single attack sustained by British and US forces since March 23, three days after they went to war to topple Saddam.

The US-led administration seeking to restore order in Iraq after the war has said the elimination of a gun culture in a country awash with weapons is a major priority. But Iraqis largely ignored a mid-June deadline to surrender arms.

Tuesday's clashes showed how dangerous it remains for British and US troops to impose order in Iraqi towns, even in Majjar, home to some of Saddam's most die-hard opponents.

US troops have come under attack almost daily over the past month in mainly Sunni central Iraq and 19 have been killed. Washington blames the attacks on Saddam loyalists.

The Shi'ites, in the majority in Iraq but oppressed by Sunni Muslim Saddam for a quarter of a century, had been perceived as less hostile, even friendly, to British forces.

In 1991, Majjar residents fought fierce battles against Iraqi troops as Saddam crushed an uprising.

But the town's residents said anger had been simmering against British troops because of their search tactics.

"These British soldiers came with their dogs and pointed weapons at women and children," Rabee al-Malki told Reuters.

"A British soldier held the underwear of a woman and stretched it. How can we accept this as Muslims and as Shi'ites," said Faleh Saleem.

Syria said on Wednesday it had protested to Washington over what US officials have described as a military strike near the Iraq-Syrian border last week in which several Syrian border guards were wounded.

The United States has said it is discussing with Syria how to return five Syrian guards wounded when US special forces attacked a convoy believed to be carrying Saddam aides.

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