The British army said Thursday that one of its soldiers was killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad.

The soldier from the 4th Battalion, the Rifles, was killed Wednesday as a result of an "indirect fire attack" in the provincial Joint Coordination Center (a British-Iraqi liaison office) in the Hakimiyah area in the center of Basra, the military said in a statement.

The term "indirect fire attack" usually refers to rocket or mortar attacks in the U.S. and British military statements.

Up to 152 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the U. S.-led invasion broke out in March 2003.

Source: Xinhua