Inside Jumhuri general hospital in Basra the stench hits you first, a mix of ancient antiseptic and filth. Then comes the dilapidation: bare furniture, beds propped on concrete blocks, broken equipment.

Among the bloodied and bandaged patients last week was Mustafa Hassan Diwan, a 14-year-old boy hurt in the chaos when two undercover SAS men were seized by Iraqi police — an incident that has revealed the fragility of the British mission in southern Iraq.

“I joined the demonstrators around the (police) station and the British opened fire,” Diwan said. “I was shot.”

He was having difficulty talking because a bullet had hit him close to his ear, smashed his upper jaw, destroyed one eye and exited near his mouth. But his feelings were unmistakeable and his relatives furious.

“What crime has he committed in order for him to have to live without a right eye and with these disfigurements,” said his uncle. “Is it because he is an Iraqi and the British are more powerful that such crimes are okay?”

To him the British were no longer liberators.

Not far away lay another young victim, 13-year-old Raed Kareem, who was also in the vicinity when Iraqi demonstrators clashed with British troops trying to rescue the SAS men.

A bullet, which he blames on the British, hit him in the stomach, ripping through his liver and bowel.

“I was never politically motivated nor belonged to any of the militias or parties,” said Kareem. “But now I pray to Allah to cure me in order for me to take revenge on those detesters of everything Arab and Muslim.”

Money or compensation from the British are not what he wants. “I just want them to leave my country,” he said.

After a week in which Iraqis fire-bombed a Warrior armoured vehicle and British soldiers fled in flames, the mood in Basra remains volatile on all sides.

Many Iraqis are incensed that two SAS troopers, disguised in civilian clothes, shot an Iraqi policeman and, allegedly, a civilian when challenged at a checkpoint. Another nine people died in the ensuing riot, according to the Iraqi judge handling the case, and 14 were injured.

Among British forces morale is suffering in the face of increasing hostility in Iraq and diminishing public support for the war at home. With the referendum on the proposed Iraqi constitution due next month and elections for the first proper government in December, the British find themselves caught between insurgents bent on mayhem and local militias desperate to grab power. Telling friend from foe is far from easy.

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