Intelligence agencies doubt al-Qa'ida links

British and European security services are sceptical of the "evidence" due to be presented by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, to link the Iraqi regime with al-Qa'ida.

General Powell will, apparently, claim that links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's organisation include terrorist training and co-operation on chemical and biological weapons, the presence of an Islamist group in northern Iraq and medical treatment for a senior Islamist operative in Baghdad.

But security sources in London said yesterday that both they and the CIA remained unconvinced by the material.

Another dossier on Iraq released by Downing Street at the weekend, prepared by MI6 and MI5, showed no discern-ible links between Iraq and al-Qa'ida. The 19-page document, "Iraq – its infrastructure of concealment, deception, and intimidation", did try to show that Baghdad was deceiving the UN weapons inspectors.

According to British and American intelligence sources "new" material General Powell intends to present to the UN Security Council comes from Iraqi opposition groups and is not regarded as credible.

He will point to the existence of the Islamist group Ansar al-Islam in northern Iraq. But Tariq Aziz, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, says the group is based in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, which Iraqi forces are not allowed to enter. He also maintains Iraq has not helped Ansar but instead aided the Kurdish group Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) when it was attacked by the Islamists.

A security source said: "That, indeed appears to be the case and Jalal Talibani [the PUK leader] has told the Americans about this."

General Powell will also highlight the presence in Baghdad of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom he will describe as a senior al-Qa'ida commander. German intelligence believes he may have played a part in setting up Islamist groups in Europe.

* An Israeli court convicted Nabil Okal, a Palestinian, of training with al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan and sentenced him to 27 years in prison.