Naval forces on alert after boat bomb is halted

Allied naval forces were on high alert against suicide attacks after Iranian gunboats intercepted an Iraqi speedboat packed with half a ton of high explosive.

Three other Iraqi speedboats, which it is feared may contain similar amounts of explosive, got away when Iranian forces engaged Iraqis at the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab river, which marks the border between the two countries. The explosives were discovered after one of the Iraqi boats was run aground.

Before the war started, Rear Admiral David Snelson, the British naval commander in the Gulf, said the threat of small speedboats packed with explosives was "uppermost in his mind" in terms of threats to the Royal Navy. All 30 Navy and Royal Fleet auxiliary vessels in the Gulf have mounted round-the-clock force protection squads on deck.

This is a pooled despatch filed by Jamie Wilson of "The Guardian".