"I expect Norway's Economic Crime Unit will not appeal the matter and that Mullah Krekar will be released during the course of the day," his lawyer, Brynjar Meling, told Norwegian news agency NTB.

Mullah Krekar was arrested in Oslo on March 20 because it was feared he could leave the country during the investigation.

Krekar, 46, whose real name is believed to be Fateh Najmeddin Faraj, is thought to be the leader of Ansar al-Islam, a group that has been accused by the United States of having links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

He is facing possible legal action for giving a controversial interview to a Dutch television network broadcast in March, in which he claimed that suicide bombers were prepared to attack US targets in Iraq.

He has been living in Norway since 1991 and was granted political refugee status.

Norwegian authorities have ordered him to be expelled from the country for reasons of national security, though the order has not been executed because of a pending extradition request from Jordan.

His lawyer has appealed the expulsion order, on the grounds that Krekar cannot be sent back to northern Iraq.

Ansar al-Islam, an extremist alliance of Muslim guerrillas including some who fought in Afghanistan with links to al-Qaeda, has been holed up in the remote mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan on the border with Iran.

The group is reported to have experimented with bio-warfare on animals and killed at least one man, and according to Norwegian media reports, it has helped al-Qaeda develop and produce chemical weapons.

A US Special Forces team said Tuesday that a joint operation with local Kurds against Ansar al-Islam had been a resounding success, with initial investigations turning up evidence of chemical weapons production.

SPACE.WIRE