The roadside bomb in southern Iraq that killed a British soldier and wounded four others on Sunday may have been a revenge attack against troops involved in last month’s demolition of al-Jameat police station in Basra.

The soldier, named by the Ministry of Defence yesterday as Private Michael Tench, 18, was attached to the 1st Battalion The Staffordshire Regiment, which took part in the Christmas Day operation to close down the station housing the Iraqi serious crimes unit.

Warrior armoured fighting vehicles from The Staffordshire Regiment provided covering fire and its soldiers led the occupation of the police station. Members of the serious crimes unit were suspected of being involved in Basra’s death squads as well as attacks on British troops and civilians.

The Staffords were involved in another controversial operation in 2005 when they helped to secure the release of two SAS troopers who had been taken hostage by the unit at al-Jameat police station. Defence sources in Basra said: “There could be a link with the Jameat incident, although it’s too early to be sure at this stage.”

The bomb that killed Private Tench was planted along a previously used Warrior route in the north of the city. The MoD was still declining to say whether the soldier was inside the vehicle or had dismounted.

Officials did not rule out a link with the al-Jameat operation, but said that the attack was more likely to have been a “routine but tragic” strike against troops in an area where other bombs had been set off.

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