British armor then encircled the jail where the two Britons were held.

In a public humiliation, television cameramen from Arab satellite broadcasters in the Persian Gulf were allowed to photograph the two men, clearly Westerners who were by that time sitting on the floor in the jail in blue jeans and T-shirts, their hands tied behind their backs.

One of the men had a bandage covering most of the top of his head, the other had blood on his clothes. Television commentary identified them only as Britons.

Outside the jail, a melee broke out in the streets as angry demonstrators attacked the encircling British armor with stones and Molotov cocktails. During the chaos, one British soldier could be seen scrambling for his life from a burning Warrior armored personnel carrier and the rock-throwing mob.

Press Association, the British news agency, reported that three British soldiers were hurt during the violence, but said none of their injuries was life-threatening.

After nightfall, 10 British armored vehicles returned to the jail, crashed through walls and freed the two captives, witnesses said. An Associated Press reporter saw the vehicles smash into the jail.

While witnesses and officials said the British raid used "tanks," it was not clear whether the tracked vehicles were Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks or Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicles, both in use by British forces in Iraq. The Warrior seen earlier in the day was mounted with a 30 mm cannon.

In other violence in Basra, an Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times was killed after men claiming to be police officers abducted him from his home, the newspaper announced Monday. Fakher Haider, 38, was found dead in a deserted area on the city's outskirts Monday after his abduction late Sunday.

This past summer, freelance journalist Steven Vincent wrote a column in the Times accusing Basra police of being infiltrated by Shiite militiamen. Shortly thereafter, on Aug. 2, Vincent was abducted at gunpoint and his body was discovered that night on the side of the highway south of Basra. A senior British official said Islamic militants — and not Iraqi police — probably killed Vincent.

Elsewhere in Iraq on Monday, an estimated 3 million pilgrims — some carrying signs reading "We welcome martyrdom" — jammed the holy city of Karbala for a major Shiite festival in defiance of insurgent declarations of all-out sectarian war.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi court sentenced one of Saddam Hussein's nephews to life in prison for funding the country's violent insurgency and bomb-making after a previously unannounced trial. It was the first known trial of any of the former leader's family.