Elite Iraqi troops move toward Baghdad

TROOPS and equipment from the Iraqi Republican Guard have begun moving south toward Baghdad from their base near Mosul in northern Iraq, US defence officials said yesterday.

The officials, speaking as US and British forces massed in the Gulf for a possible invasion of Iraq, said the purpose of the shift was not clear. It was also not known if the whole division would move, possibly to help defend President Saddam Hussein’s home city of Tikrit or go on to Baghdad.

“It started in the last couple of days and they are in the process of moving now,” said one of the officials, who asked not to be identified.

“It is a heavy Republican Guard division,” said another official, “but we don’t know how much is being moved or why.” Defence analysts estimate that six such divisions, depleted after the 1991 Gulf War, now include up to 8,000 troops each. Heavy divisions include tanks and artillery to support their ground troops, but it was not clear whether the division in question was an armoured or an infantry unit.

The officials stressed the units being moved were not part of Saddam’s Special Republican Guard, an elite force of up to 15,000 troops. Most are stationed near Baghdad and are the backbone of a protective cordon for Iraq’s president.

The Iraqi military currently has about 375,000 troops, including six regular Republican Guard divisions, the best-equipped and trained. Both the regular and Special Republican Guard units are the best equipped and trained.

The US officials did not make clear how military intelligence had discovered the Iraqi movement, but said that large numbers of trucks had been seen moving troops south. The United States uses intelligence satellites, unmanned spy planes and other aircraft to watch over Iraq.

“We don't know whether the units being moved will continue south to Baghdad or will go to Tikrit. They could stop somewhere in between,” said one official. The US and Britain have massed more than 200,000 troops in the region since early January, including about 100,000 in Kuwait on Iraq's southern border