Iraq claims thousands of foreigners are joining 'jihad'

The Iraqi military threatened more suicide attacks yesterday, and claimed that at least 4,000 volunteers from across the Arab world were making their way to Baghdad to join a jihad, or holy war.

The tactic has added to the worries of Allied troops, making operations potentially hazardous even away from the front line. Between 10 and 15 American soldiers were injured yesterday when a pick-up truck was driven into them, apparently deliberately, outside a military base in northern Kuwait.

Hazim al-Rawi, an Iraqi military spokesman, had warned the Allies that a suicide bombing on Saturday by an Iraqi soldier, in which at least four US servicemen died, would not be the last. "Martyrdom operations will continue not only by Iraqis but by thousands of Arabs who are coming to Baghdad," he said.

It is not clear whether Mr Rawi's claim of more than 4,000 is true, but many foreign Arab volunteers are travelling to Iraq, in addition to thousands of Iraqi expatriates who have returned home saying they are going to fight the Americans and British in a war that appears to have acquired religious overtones. Some Arab governments, notably in Egypt and Jordan, have tried to prevent their nationals travelling to Iraq. But the Syrian border is open to those wanting to travel to Iraq. And although the Saudi border is officially closed, it is long and poorly guarded.

"The attacks by the sons of Iraq and by the armed forces have just begun," Mr Rawi said at a press conference in Baghdad yesterday. "These are the first on the glorious path of jihad against the invaders."

Using highly religious rhetoric that would usually be frowned on by Iraq's Baath party, Mr Rawi continued: "We are a believing people, a fighting people, jihad is a must, a duty ordained by God."

The language appeared reminiscent of the Afghan war against Soviet occupation, when religious mujahedin ­ including Osama bin Laden ­ went to Afghanistan to fight from across the Arab world.

Although suicide bombing has never been used in Iraq before, the Iraqi government has given money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers via a small Palestinian faction it supports in the Gaza Strip.

A statement faxed to Reuters in Beirut claimed the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad had sent suicide bombers to Baghdad. Such a statement cannot be immediately taken as genuine ­ it would serve the propaganda interests of others, not least the Israeli government ­ but an Islamic Jihad representative in Lebanon, Abu Imad al-Rifai, was said to have confirmed it.

Signed by the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the statement announced "the good news of the arrival of its first martyrdom attackers to the heart of Baghdad. This is to fulfil the holy duty of defending Arab and Muslim land."

Mr Rifai said the suicide bombers were not Palestinians from the occupied territories but came from several other countries. It is difficult for Palestinians to leave the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.