Iraq PM requests Nato military training help

1.00pm - By STEPHEN CASTLE

BRUSSELS - Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, yesterday shrugged off a death threat as he asked Nato to provide technical and training help - but not troops - for his seemingly ungovernable country.

The request opens the way for leaders of the alliance to support a long-held US desire for Nato involvement in Iraq, without broaching the question of sending soldiers - something that France would definitely block.

The approach to Nato came as the interim leader of Iraq dismissed a threat to his life made in an audio clip on an Islamic website which said that "a useful poison and a sure sword" had been found for Mr Allawi.

The interim premier said that such threats were "expected" and vowed to hunt down the man supposedly behind it, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and other "criminals".

Hamed al-Bayati, the Iraqi deputy foreign minister, said the message could have come from Zarqawi himself. He has been accused by the US of a series of car bombings and other attacks in Iraq.

Yesterday's death threat was another example of the mounting security crisis in Iraq which will be top of the list of issues to be discussed when Nato leaders meet in Istanbul on Monday.

Nato's chief spokesman, James Appathurai, said that technical support, training and equipment "is certainly one of the range of capabilities that Nato could consider providing."

Diplomats say that the request gives leaders something concrete to discuss when they meet on Monday, and provides a test of their willingness to help the US-led coalition. Sixteen of the 26 Nato members already have some troops in Iraq, and Nato itself provides logistical help for a Polish-led division there.

However France and Germany, which have ruled out sending their own troops, though they say they might help with police training. One senior diplomat yesterday ruled out any possibility of the alliance's troops being sent to Iraq.

Officials have also played down suggestions that Nato could take over command of the Polish or British-controlled sectors of Iraq. One European diplomat at Nato, said that the deployment of alliance troops would "complicate things even more," adding: "The problem is not at all having additional soldiers. The problem is having Iraqi authorities establish their own credibility."

Spain has already withdrawn its forces following a change of government in March. Britain has no withdrawal deadline for its troops, while the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland and Italy have agreed to keep their troops in Iraq until at least the end of the year.

On the ground there was no sign of improvement in a security situation described as "chaos" by one diplomat.

Two Iraqi sisters working for a US firm were killed in a drive-by shooting on Tuesday near their home in the southern city of Basra. Their father, Sadah Audishow, said he had been waiting at the window for his girls to return from work when he heard gunshots and saw a white pick-up truck speeding past.

"I had been waiting for my daughters to come home at five o'clock," said Audishow, an Assyrian Christian who works and lives in the church with his family.

"I picked one of them up and she was dead. I went to pick up the other but found her dead too," he said.

And the US military launched an air strike against what it described as a safe house used by Zarqawi's group in the town of Falluja, killing 20 foreign fighters, according to American officials.

A US army spokesman said the air attack was a "precision strike" based on strong intelligence but that was immediately disputed by locals who said the target was populated by civilians.

The strike came three days after another US raid on a target in Falluja killed at least 20 people.

- INDEPENDENT