BAGHDAD, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Eight Iraqis are being held on suspicion of killing six British military police officers during a mob attack in 2003 near Basra, officials said.
The British Ministry of Defense announced the arrests Friday and said the suspects have been in custody for a year, The Guardian reported. Mike Aston, whose son, Cpl. Russell Aston, was one of the victims, said the families had to keep quiet because publicity would have jeopardized the possibility of further arrests.
An Iraqi judge is reviewing the case to determine whether the evidence justifies the charges, British officials said.
"The U.K. is committed to seeing the killers of the six Royal Military Police personnel brought to justice and our thoughts remain with the families of those who died throughout this difficult process," the ministry said in a statement.
About 400 people stormed a police station in Maysan Province north of Basra a few months after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. A 2006 inquest concluded a patrol near the police station was unable to come to the aid of the beleaguered police because they did not have adequate communications but the coroner said the deaths would not have been prevented.
