Freed men 'trained in terror'

Four Britons freed from Guantanamo Bay and released on to the streets of the UK were trained in terror tactics by al Qaeda or Taliban leaders, US authorities declared today.

The claims, made officially by the American embassy in London, immediately reignited the row over the decision by the Metropolitan Police last week to free the four without charge.

Embassy spokesman Lee McClenny said Tarek Dergoul, 26, Ruhal Ahmed, 22, Asif Iqbal, 22, and Shafiq Rasul, 26, had been taught to use weapons in Afghanistan.

Mr McClenny, speaking with the full authority of the White House, claimed that between them they were shown how to use pistols, AK47s, Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled-grenades and landmines. All have denied any involvement with terrorism after being freed from Camp Delta last week.

Dergoul is from Hackney while Ahmed, Iqbal and Rasul are from Tipton in the West Midlands.

The claims will lead to new questions for Tony Blair, Home Secretary David Blunkett and Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens over the treatment of the four on their return to Britain. They were released without charge after " peremptory" police questioning.

The statement appears to back up strong suggestions that the Americans had not wanted to release any of the nine Britons held at Guantanamo Bay, but that the initial group was freed as a "favour" to Mr Blair for his support for Mr Bush.

Britain agreed to take over responsibility for the men and to ensure they did not pose any threat to the US or its allies. Of five freed last week, one, Jamal al-Harith, 37, is not accused of anything in the statement.

The embassy claims that one, believed to be Dergoul, trained with an AK-47 assault rifle at an al-Qaeda safe house in Kabul in September 2001 and was a "weapons carrying fighter" at Tora Bora, Osama Bin Laden's mountain fortress.

The embassy said two trained for 40 days in September-October 2000 at an Afghan military camp, learning to shoot a Kalashnikov.

"These two and a third returned to Afghanistan shortly after September 11, 2001, to fight with the Taliban. They lived in caves for several weeks and were issued Kalashnikovs and ammunition."

The statement added: "One of the individuals states he considers the UK and US governments to be his enemies and travelled to Afghanistan after 9/11 for an organisation known to be associated with al Qaeda. He is associated with al Qaeda extremists in the UK."

Dergoul's solicitor Louise Christian said she would look at the statement in detail.

US investigators claim they can show the four remaining Guantanamo Bay Britons - Feroz Abbasi, 23, Moazzam Begg, 36, Richard Belmar, 24, and Martin Mubanga, 29 - trained at al Qaeda camps in urban warfare and as bombers and assassins.