'Intelligence papers' found in Baghdad point to regime's links with Bin Laden

The discovery by a British newspaper of alleged Iraqi intelligence documents was surrounded in mystery yesterday. They purportedly show that an envoy from Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network was secretly invited to Baghdad in 1998.

The documents, found by The Sunday Telegraph in the rubble of the bombed Baghdad headquarters of the Mukhabarat (the intelligence service), suggest that the extended talks with the envoy were used to establish a relationship between al-Qa'ida and the Saddam Hussein regime and seek a direct meeting with Bin Laden.

If authentic, the documents would provide evidence of some form of link between the regime and the organisation held responsible for the 11 September atrocities in 2001, which has so far eluded Washington and London. They would also incidentally raise further questions of why the Allied intelligence agencies have not been more thorough in gathering up all the highly sensitive material apparently left behind by the regime. US Central Command made no comment on the report, saying it had "nothing further" on it.

There is no mention of whether a meeting between Bin Laden, seen as having been highly unsympathetic to the Saddam regime, and Iraqi officials took place. According to the documents the envoy wasbrought from Khartoum, Sudan, two years after Bin Laden is thought to have stopped using the East African country as his base, but only five months before he was put on the top of America's wanted list for the bombing of two East African embassies in August 1998.

The newspaper reported that a letter attached to a paper marked "Top Secret and Urgent" says the envoy is a trusted confidant of Bin Laden. It adds: "According to the above, we suggest permission to call the Khartoum station [Iraq's intelligence office in Sudan] to facilitate the travel arrangements for the above-mentioned person to Iraq. And that our body carry all the travel and hotel costs inside Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from Bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to Bin Laden."

The newspaper's reporter Inigo Gilmore told the BBC yesterday he found the documents after being allowed into the intelligence headquarters by US troops guarding the site. He said: "Perhaps significantly the CIA had been through many of these buildings but they seem to have missed this particular document. But it is pretty much pot luck. We have been through many buildings this week and this is the first significant thing we have found."

Mr Gilmore said that like many other journalists he had been sceptical of US claims relating to a link but added that now he had had the documents translated "it does seem very credible that this contact was made in 1998 and perhaps followed up afterwards".