The strongest evidence of connections between the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden has emerged with reports that Baghdad is supporting al Qaeda fighters who have established a Taliban-style enclave in Kurdistan, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported in its latest edition.
Members of Saddam's Republican Guard have been seen in two villages run by members of Ansar al-Islam (Islam supporters) inside Iraqi Kurdistan, an area which is controlled by anti-Saddam elements, the British paper said.
The members of the Republican Guard were sighted by Western military advisers on a reconnaissance mission. Any confirmed collaboration between Baghdad and bin Laden would be seized upon by U.S. President George W. Bush to enlist support for action to topple Saddam's regime, the paper commented.
Many members of Ansar al-Islam, a militant Islamic group, are Arabs who fought with the Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan. Their numbers have been rising recently by men fleeing the American military operation in eastern Afghanistan.
The group was said last month by Kurdish military intelligence to have received about 300,000 dollars plus weapons from the al Qaeda network, the weekly reported.
Surface-to-air missiles and other weaponry from Iraq are also said to have been delivered to the mountainous region near the town of Halabjah, in northern Iraq.
This enclave was seized by fighters of Ansar al-Islam from the territory controlled by the anti-Saddam Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Saddam has repeatedly dispatched some of his best troops to help Ansar al-Islam, The Sunday Telegraph added. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
