Gulf War hostages demand inquiry into British spy claims

LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) Airline passengers taken hostage in Kuwait during the 1990 Iraqi invasion demanded an inquiry today into allegations that the British government let them land in order to smuggle spies into the emirate.

Iraqi soldiers seized the British Airways' Boeing 747 when it landed in Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the day of the invasion. The plane had been carrying more than 300 people and many of them were held for several months and used as human shields against allied bombing of strategic Iraqi sites.

Member of parliament Norman Baker said he would ask Prime Minister Tony Blair to order a public inquiry after freelance journalist Steven Davis said he had new evidence the aircraft was carrying spies that British intelligence wanted to get into the emirate to report on Iraqi troop movements.

''The new evidence ... shows that the government of the day allowed the flight to land knowing that Iraq had invaded Kuwait and therefore knowing the passengers and crew would be endangered,'' Baker told a news conference, flanked by some passengers and crew members of flight 149.

''We're here to say please let's get some truth about what happened,'' said Paul Dieppe, a professor of medicine who was on the flight.

Jennifer Chappell, 12 years old at the time, said being taken hostage had ended her childhood and left her with 16 years of psychological problems. ''I'm getting my life back on track but 16 years is a long time to have nightmares,'' she said.

Baker also accused the prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, and her successor, John Major, of giving misleading information to parliament about the incident. Major has denied there were any British military personnel on the flight.

Baker, an opposition Liberal Democrat, maintains that the agents, who posed as passengers, belonged to a highly secretive section of British intelligence service MI6 called The Inc.

Rumours that the flight carried British agents have been around for years but journalist Davis said he now had five or six sources confirming it, including some who organised or took part in the mission.

Davis said he believed there were nine British agents on the flight and that most of them avoided capture by Iraqi soldiers when the plane landed. They scattered to various parts of Kuwait, delivering important intelligence on troop movements that saved lives, he said.

Davis said BA had sought advice from the British embassy in Kuwait after hearing reports that Iraqi troops were massing on the border, and were told it was safe to fly.

Blair's spokesman declined comment on the call for a public inquiry, saying he would wait to see Baker's letter.

A BA spokeswoman said: ''We've never been aware that any military personnel were on board the flight.'' REUTERS SAM PM0010