Easy targets are magnet for Islamic militants

Though nobody had claimed responsibility for the suicide truck bombing last night, the method of attack suggested that the culprits were more likely to be Islamist militants than disgruntled supporters of Saddam Hussein.

Truck bombs brought al-Qaida to prominence in 1998 with its attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

There is also evidence that Iraq has become a magnet for militants from all over the Middle East, either to escape surveillance in their own countries or to engage in jihad against easy targets.

Among those recently arrested by American forces in Iraq are Egyptians, Palestinians, Tunisians, Yemenis and Lebanese.

Sunni Muslims of Osama bin Laden's Salafi persuasion are also reported in Falluja, while Shia Muslims from the Lebanese Hizbullah are active in Basra, according to the British army.

Iraq is turning into the perfect destination for jihad, experts say.

Josh Mandel, Middle East analyst at the security consultants Control Risks, said: "If you're sitting kicking your heels in a refugee camp in Lebanon, for example, and you've got the contacts, then why not go to Iraq where you can kill Americans and where the level of security and surveillance is considerably lower than in other Arab countries.

"I wouldn't say it's another Afghanistan, at least not yet, but it attracts people in the same sort of way."

Although experts contacted yesterday had no doubt that the number of foreign fighters in Iraq is increasing, they are unsure how many are there.

Mr Mandel said they probably numbered hundreds rather than thousands.

"I would be surprised if there were very large numbers, but you don't need large numbers for asymmetrical warfare," he said.

According to the Foreign Office, attacks and acts of sabotage are still predominantly the work of Iraqi elements. "But some foreign fighters are present and adding to the insecurity," a spokesman said.

A tape broadcast on the Arabic satellite channel al-Arabiyya on Sunday claimed that recent attacks were the work of jihadis.

It purportedly came from Abd al-Rahman al-Najdi, a spokesman for al-Qaida based in Afghanistan, and urged jihadis in Iraq to continue their work.

If true, this calls into question the US strategy of prioritising the hunt for Saddam in the belief that once he is captured or killed the attacks will subside.

Efforts to crack down on terrorism in neighbouring Saudi Arabia may also be driving jihadis across the border into Iraq, according to a London-based Saudi dissident, Saad al-Fagih of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia.

"If a young man is confronted with no choice but to end up in a small cell being tortured and the other option is to flee to Iraq, Iraq is a good option," he said.

"It's an ideal place and there's an ideal enemy."