LONDON, Oct 15: A group of air passengers who were held hostage as human shields by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before the 1991 Gulf war after their British Airways flight landed in Kuwait will demand a public inquiry into how the government allowed the plane to land there, The Sunday Times reported.

The renewed calls for an inquiry follow the news that a new documentary will claim that then prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s government allowed the plane to land, despite the fact that Iraqi troops had crossed into Kuwait.

John Major, who succeeded Thatcher as prime minister, has in the past denied accusations that any military personnel were on the flight and lives were knowingly put at risk.

Some of the more than 350 passengers on board flight BA 149 have alleged that the plane was used as a “Trojan horse” to transport British undercover agents, made up of former special forces soldiers or former intelligence officers, into Kuwait.

The undercover agents’ lack of formal link with the government would allow Britain to distance itself from their activities, the newspaper said.

The documentary will also claim that the undercover agents on the flight somehow evaded the capture of Iraqi troops, and provided Britain with valuable intelligence that helped defeat Iraq in the first Gulf War.

Some of the passengers will meet with Norman Baker, a member of parliament for the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats, on Monday in central London to call for an independent public inquiry.

A spokesman for the British foreign ministry told the newspaper: “The government’s position has already been outlined to parliament and we have a long-standing policy of not discussing intelligence matters.”—AFP