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.

But Mr Powell said Zarqawi spent two months in Baghdad in May and June 2002 for medical treatment and that some members of his groups were now based in the Iraqi capital.

“They have now been operating freely in the capital for more than eight months. Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with al-Qaida. These denials are simply not credible,” Mr Powell said.

The founder of Ansar Al-Islam denied the charges. Mullah Krekar told a news conference in an Oslo bar: “This is propaganda.” referring to Mr Powell’s allegations of harbouring al-Qaida members in the region. He said he had no links to al-Qaida or Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Mullah Krekar, 47, has had refugee status in NATO member Norway since 1991, even though Washington suspects him of involvement in terrorism.

Mr Powell said: “Baghdad has an agent at the most senior levels of the radical organisation Ansar Al-Islam which controls this corner of Iraq.”

He said that in 2000 the agent had offered al-Qaida members safe haven in the region, and they remained there today after the US swept al-Qaida from Afghanistan.

Mullah Krekar says that his group has clashes with anti-Saddam Kurds in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan but that he opposes Baghdad and has no links to the al-Qaida.

Zarqawi is a Jordan-born Palestinian who fought in the Afghan war a decade ago, Mr Powell said. He returned to Afghanistan in 2000 to head a training camp specialising in poisons. When the Taliban were ousted, the “Zarqawi network” helped establish another poisons and explosives training camp in north-eastern Iraq, he continued.

“The network is teaching its operatives how to produce ricin and other poisons,” Mr Powell said. The camp is in Kurd-controlled territory, he said.

Zarqawi travelled to Baghdad in May 2002 for medical treatment, staying there for two months while he recuperated.

“From his terrorist network in Baghdad, Zarqawi can direct his network in the Middle East and beyond,” Mr Powell said.

The man who assassinated US diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman last October said his cell received money and weapons from Zarqawi for that attack, Mr Powell continued.

After the attack an associate of the killer went to Iraq to obtain weapons and explosives for further operations.

Zarqawi’s terror network has also plotted attacks in France, Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany and Russia, Mr Powell said. One of his camp graduates ordered at least nine North African extremists in 2001 to travel to Europe to conduct poison and explosives attacks, he alleged.

“Since last year, members of this network have been apprehended in France, Britain, Spain and Italy,” Mr Powell said. “By our last count, 116 operatives connected to this global web had been arrested.” Mr Powell told the council: “We are not surprised Iraq is harbouring Zarqawi and his subordinates. This understanding builds on decades long experience with respect to ties between Iraq and al-Qaida.”

An al-Qaida source revealed that in the early to mid-’90s Saddam and bin Laden reached an understanding that al-Qaida would no longer support activities against Baghdad, he said.