AT LEAST two young Medway soldiers are believed to be among elite SAS troops already deep in Iraq on secret missions behind enemy lines.

Identities, locations and missions of Special Air Service troops are never revealed for obvious security reasons and the Government steadfastly denies our Special Forces are operating remotely near Iraq, let alone close to the capital, Baghdad, targeting Saddam Hussein's seat of Government or his home in Tikrit.

But sources close to a number of Kent-based Army units, indicate that at least two highly-trained Medway SAS soldiers, thought to be in their mid-20s, are among two Sabre squadrons from the crack regiment preparing the ground for a possible war with Iraq.

Military experts believe that up to 300 members of the elite Special Air Service troops have been working in the Gulf for weeks.

It would mark the biggest deployment of the Special Air Service with the famous motto Who Dares Wins since the Falklands War in 1982.

The SAS is bound to be invaluable in any possible conflict, tasked with missions of sabotage and subversion: recruiting local dissident fighters, guiding bombs to their targets and gathering intelligence.

"We know that UK and US Special Forces have been in Iraq since last May," said former Army Maj Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies.

SAS men will be operating in small teams - usually four men - each with a particular area of expertise such as signals and communication, explosives and medical skills.

It is likely that high priorities for our SAS troops in the Gulf today include monitoring enemy troop movements, searching for mobile Scud missile launchers and checking targets selected from spy plane and satellite photographs for attack in the devastating first wave of air strikes.

It is believed that at this moment, other SAS troops are in Kuwait, at very short notice to move, preparing to be parachuted near to Baghdad just before (48 hours or so) the start of a ground war.

Their mission, backed by elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade, will be to seize landing strips and airports and secure areas for artillery and troops to be flown in rapidly.