US deploys dolphins in mine search

MAKAI and Tacoma, two bottle-nosed Atlantic dolphins, were flown into Iraq by the US Navy last night, the latest weapon deployed by Allied Forces against Saddam Hussein.

The specially-trained dolphins will start work today searching for mines in the approaches to the strategic port of Umm Qasr so a safe route can be created for shipments of humanitarian aid into Allied-held southern Iraq.

Scores of mines including relatively sophisticated Italian-made Manta mines which detonate when they pick up magnetic or acoustic signals have been found on Iraqi ships but there is a fear others may have already been sown.