The British Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, has said thousands more troops may be sent to Iraq following the killing of six soldiers.
Reports from Iraq say the six soldiers who were killed in the south of the country yesterday were shot dead by civilians.
Witnesses in the town of Al Majar Al Kabir said the six military police were shot by men armed with rifles after they had used plastic bullets to control a crowd.
They said the shooting followed days of tension because of allegedly intrusive methods used by British forces to search for weapons in the town.
Several Iraqis were also reported killed in the incident.
British defence officials are now considering changing the equipment and tactics of forces serving in Iraq.
In a separate incident, eight British soldiers were injured in an ambush on a military convoy near the same town.
Military and political leaders are playing down fears that the attack was a sign of growing resistance to the coalition forces in Iraq.
