Iraqi bomb pierces our 'invincible tank'

He was the 11th member of the UK forces to die in the country this month.

The death makes it the worst month for British deaths since the start of the war on Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein in March 2003.

The unnamed soldier, from the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, was the 145th to die since the invasion.

He was killed while on patrol providing "top cover" for a Warrior armoured personnel carrier in the Al Ashar district of central Basra, the Ministry of Defence said.

The death came as it emerged an Iraqi insurgent bomb has penetrated a Challenger 2 battle tank for the first time, severely injured the driver of one of the Army's best protected vehicles.

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Britain's main battle tank, the Challenger 2 was previously thought to be virtually impenetrable and has withstood all previous attacks in Iraq where insurgent groups have been using increasingly sophisticated techology developed in Iran in roadside bombs.

The tank has a four man crew and it is understood the driver lost both legs as a result of the massive blast. A second crew member was also injured.

The blast on April 6 took place while the Challenger was on patrol in the Hyall Shuala area of Basra, Iraq's second city where British forces are based.

It is the first incident where a 62-ton Challenger tank has been breached by a roadside bomb and the attack came just 24hours after four British troops were killed by a bomb which blew up a Warrior armoured personnel carrier.

The successful blast, which penetrated but did not destroy the tank, sparked immediate fears that the Iraqi insurgent groups had developed a new type of roadside bomb --- and fresh concerns for the safety of British troops in the region.

Iran has been accused of supplying the Improvised Explosive Devices which use a "shaped charge" that focuses the force of a blast on one spot and produces chunks of metal capable of penetrating armour.

It has been responsible for more than 20 British deaths, including those of two soldiers killed last week when their Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle was hit in Maysan province, north of Basra.

But a Ministry of Defence spokesman stressed : "This was not in any way new technology - the device involved was the same type of shaped charge that we have seen used very regularly.

"No-one has ever said Challenger tanks are impenetrable. We have always said that a big enough bomb will defeat any armour and any vehicle, and the Americans have lost many tanks in Baghdad."

He pointed out that Challengers patrolled infrequently around Basra, which could be why this was the first recorded attack on such a tank.

Professor Michael Clarke, of the centre for Defence Studies at King's College, said the Challenger's armour is usually "inviolable."

"Most of the things on a battlefield are not much of a threat to a tank," he said, "This is worrying, because if there are many of these sorts of very heavy penetrative Improvised Exlosive Devices around in the area then no vehicle is safe."

Britain has nearly 400 Challenger 2s which were used successfully during the campaign to topple Saddam.

Confirmation of the attack came yesterday as Ryan Crocker, the new US ambassador to Iraq, warned that Sunni Islamist Al Qaeda was trying to trigger a fresh wave of violence between minority Sunnis and majority Shi'ites in a campaign of suicide and car bombings that has killed hundreds of people over the past several weeks.

Suicide bombers killed 26 people in a series of attacks across Iraq yesterday, including one in a restaurant near the heavily fortified, sprawling Green Zone compound in Baghdad, where Mr Crocker was giving his first news conference since becoming ambassador last month.

"Iraqis need to move away from zero sum thinking. The very definition of reconciliation means you've got to move away from an 'I win you lose' mentality to some form of broader accommodation," he said.

Mr Crocker spoke amid growing signs of political crisis between the US and beleaguered Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over an American decision to build giant walls through neighbourhoods in a bid to thwart the bombers.

The move has drawn sharp criticism from some Sunni and Shi'ite political parties and Mr Maliki said he had asked for the building of the 12ft high wall to be stopped.

"Obviously we will respect the wishes of the government and the prime minister ... I am not sure where we are right now concerning our discussions on this particular issue," Mr Crocker said.

But he defended the principle behind the Azamiyah barrier, saying it was aimed at protecting the community, not segregating it.

As he spoke, hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets in the area in northern Baghdad to protest the construction of the wall in Azamiyah, which residents have complained would isolate them from the rest of the city.

Mr Crocker said the intention of the barrier as well as those constructed around markets in the capital is "to try and identify where the fault lines are and where avenues of attack lie and set up the barriers literally to prevent those attacks."

"The real imperative now with respect to the construction of barriers and other aspects ... is to bring down the level of violence," he said. "I think it's important as one looks at the measures available that one not lose sight of the threat."

"It is in no one's intention or thinking that this is going to be a permanent state of affairs," he added.