CORPORAL Adrian Smith says he was "deeply proud" to receive a medal for serving in Afghanistan - where he helped in a "sting" that led to the arrest of a suspected terrorist.

The 41-year-old, from Worcester, spent months involved with the high security operation, in which he worked with fellow members of the Territorial Army, British and American armies, Afghan police, and NATO-led peacekeepers.

The target was Abu Bakr, a man suspected of planning terrorist attacks and a senior commander in the capital city of Kabul for the Hizb-e-Islami faction, which was led by the renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Mr Hekmatyar - a former Afghan Prime Minister in the 1990s - had been labelled a wanted terrorist by Washington officials, and there were reports that his faction may have formed a loose alliance with the Taliban and al Qaida.

Cpl Smith, who has been in the TA for two decades and has also been on tours of duty in Germany and Canada, said the experience, which took place between August and November last year, is one that "shall be forever ingrained" in his memory.

"We spent months discreetly finding out Abu Bakr's daily pattern, the sorts of things he was getting up to," he said.

"We staked out his house and then we were told we were going to sting him.

"We went along to various check-

points as we normally did so we would not attract any undue attention, then the Americans went in from one end and we went in from another at a point of the road where we knew he would be.

"He took one look at us and saw the amount of force we had and gave himself up."

Cpl Smith said he was amazed by the kindness of the Afghan people, despite their poverty.

"A lot of the time it was unbelievable, like being on a different planet," he said.

"It could be heartbreaking to see children running around with no shoes.

"We always liked to have an interpreter with us so that we could communicate with the people.

"We were there to try and reassure them our presence was to help them and bring them a better life and we regularly met village elders to talk to them about their outlook on what it's like to have peace in Afghanistan for the first time in years.

"We were like an armed police force and back-up to the Afghan police too. We tried not to get too involved but sometimes we had no choice.

"We found the police there could be a bit corrupt. There were some situations that if an officer's brother-in-law or distant cousin was involved they would suddenly take sides and that's when we had to intervene."

He said the experience greatened his passion for the Territorial Army and he hoped to be sent on more tours of duty in the future.

The nine men decorated:

Maj Jeremy Richardson

Sgt Maj Frank Young

Sgt Phil Martin

Cpl Adrian Smith

Lance Cpl Richard Jones

Lance Cpl John Field

Lance Cpl Gary Hurst

Pte Alex Perryman

Pte Robert Andrews

Refuse to go to Baghdad

A PEACE activist kidnapped in Iraq fears British hostage Margaret Hassan's safety could be jeopardised by UK troops moving to relieve US soldiers in Baghdad.

Jo Wilding, of Talavera Road, Norton, Worcester, was kidnapped and held for 24 hours by the resistance movement while trying to leave Fallujah in April.

Although she was released without harm, she fears Mrs Hassan is in a dangerous position after the Government announced yesterday that soldiers from Black Watch were being moved to take over from US Marines preparing for an assault on Fallujah.

Miss Wilding, aged 29, took time out from her law studies to travel to Iraq with the Circus2Iraq programme - which aims to bring relief to children in the war-torn country - when she was kidnapped.

She said her captors treated her well and was "fairly confident" Mrs Hassan would be released as she was a woman and an aid worker - until the deployment of British troops to Baghdad.

"She could be in a lot more danger now," said Miss Wilding. "I imagine she's feeling very scared because your life is taken out of your control and you don't know what's going to happen."

Aid worker Mrs Hassan, who has dual English and Iraqi nationality, is director of Care International's operations in Iraq and was seized from her car last Tuesday on the way to work.

"There's a clear difference between aid workers and contractors, although the US command and the mercenary companies have done their best to blur that distinction, for their own interests, and that's a big factor in putting aid workers at such risk," said Miss Wilding.

While working in Iraq, Miss Wilding claims she came under fire from American snipers who targeted an ambulance she was in with injured Iraqis.

Miss Wilding, who is now training to be a barrister, has written an open letter to British troops urging them to reconsider their position in Iraq.

Jo Wilding's message to the troops

"The US has asked the British Government to send you north to free up forces for another offensive against Falluja. I'm writing to ask you to refuse any orders to deploy to Baghdad or other areas under US control.

"I was an ambulance volunteer in Falluja during the April siege. I went because my friend Salam, a doctor, said US troops were stopping medical supplies getting in, cut off water, food, electricity and had closed down the main hospital and controlled the road to the smaller one with snipers.

"Salam was evacuated with bullet wounds; a missile from a US plane destroyed the ambulance in front of his. He and his crew were under fire, pinned inside the vehicle while their colleagues burned in the other one. He thought the marines wouldn't shoot us because we'd look like their brothers and sisters. He was right: in daylight we moved medical supplies, evacuated people from the second hospital and homes in the firing line, picked up sick and injured people.

"We went to bring two sick women from a house in US territory. We could see the lines of marines along the tops of the houses. Only when we got there did the family dare to come out, the sons screaming that he was unarmed, he just went out to get the car to take his wife to the clinic.

"As it got dark, we were asked to pick up a woman in premature labour in a US-held area, giving birth without light, water or medical attention. We were not visibly foreign any more and my ambulance, clearly marked as such in English with flashing lights and siren, was fired on by US marine snipers. We never got to her. I don't know what happened to her.

"Another attack on Falluja emphatically won't make the country safer for elections.

"British troops in Baghdad will sustain higher casualties than in the south, will take the brunt of the uprisings caused by US misjudgment and brutality. The UK Government will not be there for you or your families. Please, don't go. Please don't put yourself closer to harm for the sake of an ill-advised attack that will only make things worse."

Jo Wilding