Aid convoys for Kurds 'halted by Iraqi bombs'

ISTANBUL - United Nations aid convoys to the Kurds of northern Iraq have been temporarily halted because of bombs planted in trucks passing through Iraqi-controlled territory, UN sources said yesterday, writes Hugh Pope.

High-level security talks were being held between Baghdad and the United Nations after eight more trucks were bombed on Wednesday. Another nine unexploded bombs were found. It was the third set of bombs found on trucks taking winter aid to the Kurds. Diplomats and Kurdish officials say the bombs are rigged up at Iraqi checkpoints. More than 500 trucks have brought in wheat, pulses and fuel since mid-October.

Safeen Dizayee, a Kurdish representative in Turkey, said: 'It's like Frankenstein. The world thinks it killed off Saddam during the Gulf war, but the monster is still there.' Mr Dizayee confirmed reports by ABC news, the US network, of Iraqi troop build-ups along the front lines in Iraqi Kurdistan.