(Telegraph-UK) - Philip Sherwell and Martin Bentham Saddam Hussein's trusted aide Abid Hamoud Mahmud travelled to Syria last month to organize a suicide campaign by Arab fighters against American forces within Iraq. Mahmud, captured by U.S. troops two weeks ago, has told military interrogators that he fled to Syria with Saddam's sons after Baghdad fell. While in Syria, Hamoud drew on funds already deposited in foreign bank accounts before the war to make travel arrangements and payments for Islamic radicals, who had gathered in Syria to volunteer for so-called "martyr" operations inside Iraq. He also conducted financial deals on Saddam's behalf. It is not known how many of the extremists have entered Iraq, although U.S. forces wiped out a group of about 75 mainly foreign fighters at their temporary camp in the western desert near the Syrian border three weeks ago.
2003-06-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive