IRAQ: Troops and equipment from an Iraqi Republican Guard division have begun moving south toward Baghdad from their base near Mosul in northern Iraq, American defence officials said yesterday.
The officials said the purpose of the move was not clear. It was also not known if the whole division would be moved, possibly to help defend President Saddam Hussein's home city of Tikrit or go on to Baghdad.
"It started in the last couple of days and they are in the process of moving now," said one of the officials, who asked not to be identified. Defence analysts estimate that such divisions, depleted after the 1991 Gulf War, now include up to 8,000 troops. The officials said the units being moved were not part of the Special Republican Guard, an elite force of up to 15,000 troops which is the backbone of a protective cordon for Iraq's president.
- (Reuters)