Fragile peace prevails in riot-shaken Basra

"It's all calmed down. We're delivering fuel to stations," said Major Charlie Mayo, military spokesman in the British-administered city where people rioted for two days as tempers spilled over about the poor conditions in the city.

A foreign security guard and two Iraqis were killed in a second day of violence in Basra on Sunday in which British troops fired warning shots as crowds attacked vehicles and blocked streets with burning tires.

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The British patrolled in tanks as hundreds of stone-throwing Iraqis rampaged in protest against fuel and power shortages. In one incident troops said they returned fire from gunmen, but a tense calm settled over Iraq's second city by evening.

The violence was some of the worst in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was toppled by US-led forces on April 9 and occurred in a city at the heart of the mostly Shiite Muslim south, which has been relatively peaceful in the wake of his fall. Iraq's majority Shiites were repressed under Saddam, a Sunni Muslim.

The British blame oil smugglers, looters and saboteurs for the fuel and power shortages, but Basra residents are angry at seeing fridges and air conditioners stop working as summer temperatures soar to more than 120 Fahrenheit.

The Gurkha was delivering mail in the lead vehicle of a two-car convoy when three shots were fired at 3:00 PM (1100 GMT), one of which hit him in the shoulder, said British spokesman Iain Pickard.

Gurkhas formerly with the British army have been hired out by Global Security, a private firm being used by the Coalition Provisional Authority for protection, the spokesman added.

By Sunday night, British troops distributed fuel to gas stations for the population of 1.5 million fed up with gas shortages, electricity outages and the rampant smuggling of petrol under the coalition's nose.

A statement said the CPA was "providing extra stocks of benzene (petrol) from coalition military sources and from stocks seized as a result of anti-smuggling operations."

It added that new gas turbines were being installed in faltering power plants, which break down repeatedly, in a bid to cool tempers in the middle of the summer heat.

Czech troops operating alongside the British said they also had to resort to warning shots and that another Iraqi was killed when he fell under the wheels of a truck he was trying to climb.