US claims group with al-Qaida ties in Iraq

THE United States yesterday alleged that members of a group associated with al-Qaida had been operating freely in Baghdad for eight months.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the UN Security Council: “Iraq harbours a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida lieutenant.”

Zarqawi is connected with Ansar al-Islam, a group that operates in northern Iraq outside the control of Baghdad.