THE terrorist group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, America’s most wanted man in Iraq, has joined forces with other Iraqi insurgents to carry out “spectacular” attacks, a rebel commander claimed last week.

The commander said Zarqawi’s group, known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, had agreed to work with insurgents ranging from Islamic radicals to supporters of Saddam Hussein in a loose affiliation called Iraq’s mujaheddin.

“Targets have been selected and plans are in place for coming attacks which will introduce new strategies and updated tactics,” said the commander.

A sharp fall in insurgents’ attacks from a peak of 140 a day just before the January 30 elections to 40 a day now had prompted predictions last week that American and British forces would be scaled back next year. The insurgency has been hit hard by mass arrests and offensives against rebel strongholds such as Falluja.

The commander’s warning of attacks by groups working together came after one of the most radical, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, claimed to have carried out a joint raid with Zarqawi’s men on a pipeline in Kirkuk, in which nine police officers died.

US officials said they had believed for some time that the groups had been collaborating but this appeared to be the first time they had admitted working together.

In other incidents yesterday a bomb in a restaurant popular with policemen in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, killed seven people. Last night US-led forces were trying to free up to 150 Shi’ite hostages held by Sunni guerrillas in the central Iraqi town of Madaen.

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