Powell claims European al Qaeda network run from Iraq

2.30pm - By ANDREW BUNCOMBE and CAHAL MILMO

LONDON - Colin Powell today sought to draw links between a pan-European al Qaeda terror network, directed by a one-legged lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, and the Iraqi regime.

The US Secretary of State insisted events such as the discovery of ricin in Britain and the murder of Stephen Oake carried the Iraqi regime's fingerprints. At the heart of the link is the figure of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, an associate of bin Laden accused of operating a poisons training camp in Afghanistan before fleeing into Iraq after the Allied offensive to continue his operations.

Delivering just the words that hawks in Washington had been waiting for, General Powell said Zarqawi, a Jordanian Palestinian, and his group were operating in Baghdad and the north-east of the country. From there, General Powell said, he had sent dozens of operatives into Europe and was looking to conduct a campaign of bombings and poisonings across the continent.

"The network is teaching its operatives how to produce ricin and other poisons... Zarqawi and his network have plotted terrorist actions against countries including France, Britain, Spain and Italy."

Zarqawi had initially been restricted to northern Kurdish areas of Iraq, outside the control of Saddam Hussein's regime, General Powell said. But last May, the veteran of the Afghan war spent two months in Baghdad for medical treatment, as a result of which he lost a leg. While he recuperated in the Iraqi capital, some 24 known extremists set up a base of operations in the city, the Security Council heard.

General Powell said: "They have been operating freely in the capital for more than eight months. Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with al Qaeda. These denials are simply not credible."

What was new in the American claims was the line drawn between Zarqawi, his alleged Iraqi supporters and a scattering of locations in Europe, including the flat in Wood Green, north London, where traces of Ricin were found in December, and the house in Manchester where DC Oake was murdered.

Pointing to a chart showing the geographical spread of Zarqawi's network from rural Spain to Paris, London and the Italian countryside, General Powell said one of those arrested in recent raids in Europe had named his colleagues and their addresses.

"In the apartments of the terrorists [arrested in France], authorities found circuits for explosive devices and a list of ingredients to make toxins. The detainee who helped to piece this together says the plot also targeted Britain. Later evidence proved him right."

General Powell added that Iraq and al Qaeda had agreed a non-aggression pact in 1993 and that officials from both sides had met on at least eight occasions since.

The US Secretary of State's claims came after the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said Iraq allowed a "permissive environment" in which bin Laden and al Qaeda were able to operate. He said intelligence reports showed there had been links between al Qaeda and "various people" in Iraq.

"What we see in terms of intelligence is that the Iraqi regime appears to be allowing a permissive environment in which al Qaeda is able to operate," he told the BBC.

Mr Straw's comments were at odds with a leaked report from the Government's Defence Intelligence Staff Agency (DIS), which concluded that a potential relationship between President Saddam and bin Laden had "foundered" due to ideological differences.

The DIS report acknowledged that al Qaeda personnel may have been trained in Iraq but said relations between the Iraqi regime and the terror network's leadership had broken down.

The report said: "While there have been contacts between al Qaeda and the regime in the past, it is assessed that any fledgling relationship foundered due to mistrust and incompatible ideology.

"Though training of some al Qaeda members in Iraq may have continued, we believe that Bin Laden views the Baath party as an apostate regime. His aim of restoring an Islamic caliphate whose capital was Baghdad is in ideological conflict with present-day Iraq."

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Herald feature: Iraq