AN ELDERLY and blind British citizen was captured during the bloody battle for Fallujah by US forces, who concluded that he was an innocent visitor “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

In one of the most extraordinary postscripts to last month’s fierce siege of the insurgent stronghold, Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials confirmed yesterday that an unidentified Briton, believed to be 57, had been among the 1,200 men captured during the assault.

At least 71 US soldiers, hundreds of suspected insurgents and an unknown number of civilians were killed in the battle. Those caught in the middle had to endure days hiding in cellars without food, water or electricity.

During their house-to-house searches of the city, American troops rounded up 28 foreigners, most of them foreign militant fighters who had travelled from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and other Arab countries to fight the Americans.

They were stunned when one of the prisoners declared that he was a British national and produced his passport to prove it.

Although at first there was suspicion that the man might also have been involved in the insurgency, as other British Muslims have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, British diplomats were relieved to establish that he was simply a visitor. He apparently had no idea that the well-publicised battle for Fallujah was about to break out when he decided to visit the city to stay with relatives.

Tens of thousands of civilians fled Fallujah before American forces began to take the town in heavy street fighting. The Briton, apparently of Iraqi origin, was either unwilling or unable to escape and remained with his relatives as the battle raged around him.

Last night British diplomats described him as the “worst- informed but luckiest man in Fallujah”. Not only had he avoided being killed in the assault, but he had also survived Fallujah when it was the headquarters of militant groups who have kidnapped and executed scores of foreign victims, including two Britons.

Last night Foreign Office officials said that the man had been released by the Americans, but had not yet made contact with British consular staff. It was unclear whether he was still in the region or had returned home to Britain.

While there is no question that the man was involved in the insurgency, there is still a possibility that a British connection will emerge as US military intelligence officers pour through documents and computer files seized in Fallujah. The US military said that it had captured two strongholds used by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist mastermind responsible for suicide bombings and the abduction and killing of foreigners. They have also recovered tons of weapons and explosives, including 20 arms caches hidden in mosques.

Among the documents recovered were mobile telephone numbers used by insurgents and the names of relatives who should receive compensation in the event of foreign volunteers being killed fighting American or British forces.

There are growing fears that the insurgency, currently confined to Iraq, could spread beyond the country’s borders.

Yesterday German police arrested three Iraqis accused of planning to attack Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi Prime Minister, who arrived in Berlin for talks with German leaders. Kay Nehm, a German prosecutor, said that the raids were launched after police in southwest Germany had intercepted increasingly “hectic” telephone conversations suggesting that an attack could be imminent.

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