AMERICAN troops were told yesterday to prepare for “suicide PoWs” as commanders prepared to cope with tens of thousands of Iraqi defectors.

US Marines, likely to be among the first troops to enter Iraqi terroritory, fear that some prisoners of war will use the suicide tactics of Hamas bombers to cause as many casualties as possible.

The Marines have been given warning that suicide PoWs could take advantage of the chaos caused by tens of thousands of genuine Iraqi prisoners giving themselves up to the invading forces. Despite such fears, the Marines have been ordered to treat prisoners as they would their own men.

Enemy prisoners of war — known by the Marines as EPWs, rather than PoWs — will be issued food rations in yellow vacuum-packed bags, given emergency medical aid and protected as far as possible from hostilities while in US care. They will be disarmed and handcuffed first.

Colonel Michael Marletto, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Regiment, told his troops yesterday that some Iraqis — possibly from the 51st Mechanised Division stationed directly over the Kuwaiti border — had already tried to surrender to British Forces.

“The indications we’re getting from over the border is that there’s not much motivation for a fight,” he said. “A bunch of them (Iraqis came up to the Brits and tried to surrender, but the Brits said: ‘It’s not time yet, go back.’ ”

British Forces in Kuwait played down the suggestion that troops may have turned away a potential source of Intelligence. An army spokesman said: “I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

Colonel Marletto said that many Iraqis may be bemused by the presence of US forces wearing chemical suits and night-vision goggles. “Your average Iraqi is probably going to think he’s having a close encounter of the third kind with an alien,” he said.

US Marines have been practising crowd control at their camps in Kuwait in preparation for prisoners. Staff Sergeant Howard Bradford told assembled Marines at Camp Grizzly to tie prisoners’ hands behind their backs using plastic “flexi-cuffs” and then twist them. This will give a short stab of intense pain, he said, that would “let them know who’s in control”.

“We’re expecting high numbers of EPWs,” Sergeant Nathan Perry said. He is one of a dozen or so Marines who took part in Staff Sergeant Bradford’s training exercise. “As far as the ground force goes, the number of EPWs could be double the number of men in our battalion,” he said. “When we search them, we’re told they can have anything strapped to them, like a suicide bomb. If you can see explosives, you use the EPW’s body as a shield.”

During the 1991 Gulf War, his eight-man unit had to deal with about 200 prisoners, some of whom were US citizens with Iraqi families. Saddam had given them a choice: come back to Iraq to fight or never see their relatives again.

The 1991 effort to round up prisoners did not go smoothly. “We had a lot of people going through the prisoners’ wallets because they wanted souvenirs,” Staff Sergeant Bradford said. He has told his Marines not to repeat such behaviour.

Marines at Camp Grizzly have a small white laminated card — along with a booklet of phonetic Arabic phrases such as “la too-qaa-wim” (“do not resist”) — telling them how to handle prisoners.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Indian Army spends10m rupees on golf buggies
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating