LONDON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of weapons supplied to Iraq by British arms companies have fallen into the hands of al-Qaeda terrorists targeting British troops, the Observer newspaper here revealed on Sunday.

    A deal approved by British ministers to export semi-automatic pistols to Iraqi police forces has ended up arming the supporters of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is claimed to be al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, the paper said in an investigative report.

    Britain's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last year sanctioned the export of Beretta 92S guns, and there is no evidence to suggest special checks were put in place to prevent them from reaching terrorist insurgents, the report said.

    The two British companies involved in supplying the 20,318 weapons to Iraq said there had been a risk that some of the weapons could have ended up with the "wrong people" if preventative measures had not been introduced.

    Critics said the revelations raised damaging questions over Britain's role in exporting arms to Iraq.

    Anti-war activists even claimed in Saturday's demonstration in central London that the companies involved in the deals were supporting both sides of confronting military groups in Iraq to make chaos in the warring country, so that the U.S. and British governments could justify keeping their military presence in the country.

    The Beretta deal was instigated when the U.S. government askedits procurement arm, Taos Industries, to find weaponry to arm the Iraqi police, the Observer said.

    The U.S. firm contacted London-based Super Vision International,which negotiated procurement of the semi-automatic pistols from Beretta's Brescia factory and asked Cornwall-based arms firm Helston Gunsmiths, in south-west England, to obtain an export licence from the British government.

    The DTI approved the licence and the Beretta 92S guns were flown from Italy to Stansted airport, Essex, where customs officials approved the paperwork before they were dispatched to the U.S. military base in Baghdad.

    In February 2005 the guns were handed over to Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority for distribution to police.

    However, Iraqi officers have reported that a number of the Beretta pistols have been found among the "friends of al-Zarqawi" and "in the possession of the enemy forces."

    A spokesman for the DTI said the deal, approved by Nigel Griffiths, the minister then responsible for arms exports, was sanctioned only after considering the "risk that the equipment will be diverted within the buyer country (Iraq)."

    Both British arms companies involved in the sale admitted weapons had been found in the possession of insurgents. However, they said it was impossible to know exactly how many, although the figure is believed to be in the thousands, the report added. Enditem