Al Qaeda has�recruited countless�young Iraqis for�suicide bombing missions,�The Times, London, reported on Monday,

Osama bin Laden's lieutenants�drug�these Iraqis before they embark on their deadly assignments, the newspaper reported.

The Times said Al Qaeda�is also moving�drugs via Iraq's unpatrolled borders into Saudi Arabia. Funds�obtained from the sale of these drugs bankroll the terrorism that has�crippled Iraq in recent weeks.�

Iraqi police�arrested�recruits to Al Qaeda's cause last week, along with drugs worth $20 million (about Rs 900 million). Recordings of bin Laden's speeches were also seized in the raids.�The Al Qaeda leader's sermons are used to entice young Iraqis to the 'cause.'

Iraqi police officials believe the drugs came from�Afghanistan, where the Taliban ran a lucrative narcotics empire before it was overthrown in November 2001.�Western observers have warned�that drug cultivation in Afghanistan is�on the increase since last year. The drugs were brought to neighbouring Iran and then smuggled into Iraq.

The Iraqi police believe�foreigners -- rather than Iraqis -- were responsible for the horrific�attacks in the holy city of Karbala. However, young Iraqis are believed to have participated in�smaller murderous attacks.

'It's a long process to brainwash them,' one police officer told The Times. 'They seduce them with money, then start to use drugs on them until they are half conscious.'

Military officers�from America's�coalition believe�there are as many as�200 cells of Iraqi terrorists, some of whom have links to Al Qaeda. There are�fears that�loyalists�of Saddam Hussein's Baath party have formed associations with Islamic extremists,�though they have been hostile�to�each other in the past.

The next challenge for the Iraqi police and coalition forces is next month's�festival of Arbaiyin, which is attended by the country's dominant Shia community.

�