The two members of the Ansar al-Islam group handed themselves over to militiamen from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on Tuesday in this mountainous village near the Iranian border.

The men -- who say they have "never shot a Kurd nor an American" -- are the lucky ones.

Most of the rest of Ansar al-Islam, which had established itself in an enclave in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, was wiped out in an operation involving some 8,000 PUK fighters backed by US special forces late last month, according to US officials.

In February, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the group was backed by Baghdad and could deliver alleged weapons of mass destruction from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda.

The existence of the group was used to try and prove that Saddam had links to al-Qaeda and was supporting "terrorism."

"I am a Kurd, all Kurds hate Saddam Hussein, he destroyed my family," said one of prisoners, 31, saying he never wanted to be a fighter.

"I am a merchant and have always lived here. I spent some months in Sulaymaniya and when I returned I found them here. They came to see me, hit me and locked me up, saying I must accept this or leave," said the fighter, who like the second prisoner did not want to give his name.

Ansar seized their tiny enclave from the PUK in September 2001.

It established rigid Islamic rules in the area under its control, and launched a fierce campaign against the PUK, carrying out bloody incursions and attacks on Kurdish territory, including suicide attacks.

"I never fought anyone and there were many like us," said the second prisoner, a craftsman from Tawela with a salt and pepper beard, who also said he was not given a choice.

Both know nothing about any support to the group from Saddam, whose authority anyway does not stretch to the Kurdish-controlled region of Iraq, and did not see any of the Arab or other foreign Islamist fighters that according to the United States and PUK came over here from Afghanistan.

The offensive against Ansar kicked off on March 22 with US airstrikes on the group's positions and was followed by a ground offensive about six days later.

The men left during the airstrikes. "We hid for about two weeks and then took traffickers' trails to Iran since we have family there. Once there we found out from Kurdish satellite television that the Kurds were promising amnesty to those who hand themselves over."

"Two days later we decided to come back," one of them said.

The merchant from Tawela is looking forward to starting up his business again, looking to a bright future without Saddam Hussein.

US forces operating out of Halabja were on Tuesday chasing down surviving militants of Ansar al-Islam, notably in the mountainous regions near the Iranian border. The militants have no escape, a Kurdish official said, because Iran has "closed its border."

But some of the Ansar, which numbered according to different sources between 300 to 1,000 men, could well have made it to Iran through backroads.

SPACE.WIRE