PoWs: 'Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq'

CAPTURED Iraqi soldiers have told British interrogators that al-Qaeda terrorists are fighting on the side of Saddam Hussein’s forces against allied troops near Basra.

At least a dozen members of Osama bin Laden’s network are in the town of Az Zubayr, where they are co-ordinating grenade and gun attacks on coalition positions, according to the Iraqi prisoners of war.

It was believed that last night, British forces were preparing a military strike on the base where the al-Qaeda unit was understood to be holed up.

A senior British military source inside Iraq said last night: "The information we have received from PoWs today is that an al-Qaeda cell may be operating in Az Zubayr. There are possibly around a dozen of them and that is obviously a matter of concern to us."

If terrorists are found, it would be the first proof of a direct link between Saddam’s regime and Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.

The connection would give credibility to the argument that Tony Blair used to justify war against Saddam - a "nightmare scenario" in which the Iraqi leader might eventually pass weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.

On Wednesday, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said the coalition had solid evidence senior al-Qaeda operatives had visited Baghdad in the past.

He added that Saddam had an "evolving" relationship with the terror network.

The presence of al-Qaeda terrorists would go some way to explaining the continued resistance to forces from Britain and the United States in southern Iraq, an area dominated by Shiite Moslems traditionally hostile to Saddam’s regime.

Heavy fighting continued around the besieged city of Basra yesterday, after British forces destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks which had struck out towards the Al Faw peninsula.

Military commanders have decided against launching an attack on the city because of fears the operation would result in a Stalingrad-style street battle. It is estimated Iraqi military forces in the area have been reduced to 30 per cent fighting strength but have now embedded themselves within civilian buildings in the city.

Armed raids have destroyed transmitters and taken state radio and television off the air in Basra and effectively cutting off its communications with Baghdad

British tanks from the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, could be sent into the city if there is a sudden civilian uprising against Saddam’s forces.

Last night, forces around Basra heard loud explosions as coalition helicopter gunships were sent into the area.

In the north of Iraq, Kurdish fighters made their first advance into territory controlled by Saddam yesterday after another 200 US soldiers were airlifted into the region.

One commander of the Kurdish peshmerga force said Iraqi soldiers had abandoned their weapons and fled front-line sentry posts after days of heavy aerial bombardment from coalition warplanes.

More than 1,000 US paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade have been dropped in Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq, taking control of an airfield and opening up a new front in the war on the Iraqi regime.

Coalition aircraft dropped several bombs on the northern town of Kirkuk yesterday, where the retreating Iraqi army was believed to have regrouped.

A massive explosion also went off near the village of Kalak, just outside the Kurdish zone.

There were reports that up to 500 tribespeople who refused to join the fight against the US-led forces had been massacred by forces loyal to Saddam in Hawi Jah, a village close to the town.

The guerrilla force of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan advanced only two miles into Iraqi government-controlled territory, seizing a hilltop overlooking the road to Kirkuk, but the move will alarm Turkey, which is wary of any strengthening of Kurdish autonomy.

Coalition commanders plan to place more troops on the Iraqi Northern front in the next week.

"This position is going to be built up over time," a US official said, explaining there were plans to fly in tanks and other heavy equipment.

Elsewhere in Iraq, US and British forces were engaged in fierce gun battles around several towns south of Baghdad, including Samawah, Najaf, An Nasiriyah and Karbala.

As the sandstorms of recent days lifted, Apache helicopter gunships were able to fly in and dislodge a force of 1,500 Iraqi fighters at a crossing of the Euphrates river which must be secured to ensure supply lines are maintained to forces south of Baghdad.

At An Nasiriyah, strong opposition was still being shown by Iraqi infantry units as the US troops tried to secure the area.

A C-130 Hercules plane yesterday landed at Tallil airport, Iraq’s second largest, which lies four miles outside An Nasiriyah. Military sources believe that Tallil, which was captured during intense fighting on Tuesday, will become the major re-supply base for US forces.

The intensive bombing of Baghdad continued last night. Buildings close to the information ministry appeared to have been hit as well as positions south of the city, where the Republican Guard are believed to be based.

Sultan Hashim Ahmed, Iraq’s defence minister, said later that he expected allied forces would manage to encircle Baghdad within five to ten days, but they would then have to face fierce street-to-street fighting that could last months.

He claimed: "The enemy must come inside Baghdad and that will be its grave."

Iraqi officials yesterday put the civilian casualty toll at 4,000, including 350 killed.

But senior officers at central command in Qatar said that a missile which landed on a Baghdad shopping street killing and injuring scores of civilians on Wednesday was probably a stray Iraqi weapon.