
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991                   TAG: 9102070329
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA                                LENGTH: Short

IRAQI DEFECTORS REPORT DESERTIONS IN KUWAIT

More than a quarter of the positions in Iraq's regular army in Kuwait are deserted or unmanned, raising serious questions about Iraq's ability to defend against a ground assault, according to reports from allied officials who have debriefed Iraqi defectors in Saudi Arabia.

The interviews, according to a senior government source familiar with the reports, report that the small Iraqi contingent in last week's ill-fated invasion of the border city of Khafji expected to be joined by a full division. The prisoners reportedly have told allied officials that an estimated one-fourth to one-third of the troops in Iraq's regular army in Kuwait have either defected, been taken prisoner, suffered casualties or simply fled.

The estimates include only the regular army in Kuwait, approximately 395,000 troops, and do not include Iraq's more highly regarded Republican Guard units that have been the targets of heavy allied bombing assaults. - Los Angeles Times

by CNB