Iraqi civilians shot dead six British soldiers and wounded eight others this week because of intrusive searches for arms in a conservative Shiite Muslim town in southern Iraq, residents said on Wednesday.

The British government said the soldiers were killed and several others wounded in two separate incidents on Tuesday near the city of Amarah, some 200 km north of Iraq's British-controlled second city of Basra.

Four Iraqis were killed in the clashes and 14 wounded, local residents said.

Witnesses in the town of Majjar, 30 km south of Amarah, said the residents killed the troops, after days of tension over the methods used by a British force to search for heavy weapons.

They said British forces had used plastic bullets to try to control a crowd of protesters complaining about the searches.

Reporters in the town saw bullet holes in cars and buildings. There was no immediate comment from the British military on the details of the incident.

"These British soldiers came with their dogs and pointed weapons at women and children. As Muslims, we can't accept dogs at our homes," Rabee al-Malki told Reuters.

Most Muslims take offence if dogs come to their homes, believing the animals are impure.

After the locals complained the British force agreed to halt the intrusive inspections, but two days later they returned with the same attitude, the residents said.

The Iraqis asked that the searches be stopped and promised to hand over weapons within two months, they said.

When the soldiers returned on Tuesday, thousands took to the streets to protest.

PLASTIC BULLETS
"I yelled at them because they pointed their rifles at a child. I told them 'don't do that' but a soldier hit me with the butt of his rifle in the face," one resident, who refused to give his name, said. "Then the shooting started."

The British forces opened fire with plastic bullets to control the crowd. Iraqis, believing the British were firing live bullets, fired from their AK-47s, killing the soldiers.

The casualties were the worst suffered by British forces in a single 'hostile fire' incident since the war to oust Saddam Hussein erupted on March 20.

The British forces that control the mainly Shiite south have had few problems since Saddam was ousted, unlike US troops in mainly Sunni central Iraq.

Shiites expressed joy at the ousting of Saddam, a Sunni, who oppressed them for two decades.

But in Majjar, relief at Saddam's ousting seems to have given way to resentment at the methods of the occupying forces.

Amarah and its surroundings were a hotbed for anti-Saddam rebels during an uprising in the aftermath of Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War. Baghdad forces crushed the rebellion, killing thousands in southern Iraq.

Residents said they would not accept a British presence in their town any more. "We will do the same if the British come back. We will not allow them to come back," Abu Faten said.