BRUSSELS, June 19: Warcrime lawsuits have been filed in Belgium against eight top officials, including US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Belgian authorities said on Thursday.

But the Belgian government has refused to handle the cases arising from the conflict in Iraq, referring them to the US and British governments, the justice ministry said.

Nevertheless the lawsuits, brought under Belgium’s ‘universal competence law’, are likely to deepen tensions between Washington and Brussels, which firmly opposed the war in Iraq.

Last week US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — who is one of the eight officials named in the lawsuits — said Belgium would face consequences unless it revised the “absurd” law.

He warned that US officials would shun the country, and announced that US funding for a new NATO headquarters in Brussels, which is also home to the European Union, would be suspended in the meantime.

Mr Rumsfeld was backed by British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, who said the Belgian law was a matter of “great concern”.

The 1993 law allows courts in Belgium to judge suspects accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, regardless of where the alleged acts were committed, the nationality of the accused or that of the victims.

The justice ministry said it had received three lawsuits arising from the Iraq conflict seeking to have Mr Bush, Mr Blair and the six others tried.

Other officials named in the suits were US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Mr Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld’s deputy Paul Wolfowitz, Attorney-General John Ashcroft, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and General Tommy Franks, who led US forces in Iraq.

Mr Bush, Mr Rumsfeld, Mr Ashcroft, Ms Rice and Mr Wolfowitz were additionally accused over the US-led campaign in Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime.

But in line with a decision taken by the Belgian cabinet last month when a similar case was filed against US military officials, including Gen Franks, the justice ministry said it had passed the latest suits on to legal authorities in Britain and the United States.

The Belgian government is seeking to deflect the storm of international criticism of the law, under which suits have also been brought against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Outgoing Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt wants to circumvent the dispute by extending diplomatic immunity to all official visitors to international bodies on Belgian territory, the Financieel Economische Tijd newspaper said on Thursday.

“We want everyone who wants to visit the headquarters of international organizations in Brussels to be able to do so without any problems,” he was quoted as saying.

“That doesn’t only mean NATO,” added Mr Verhofstadt, who is trying to put together a new coalition government after winning elections last month.

The Belgian justice ministry did not spell out the precise nature of the charges against Mr Bush, Mr Blair and the rest.

ALTERNATIVE SOUGHT: A newspaper said on Thursday Belgium may try to circumvent the growing row over the war crimes law by extending diplomatic immunity to all official visitors to international bodies on its territory.