The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has detained about 30 Iraqis living in the United States and interviewed 5,000 more since the war against Iraq commenced last week.

According to a FoxNews.com report, the bureau said the purpose of the interviews which it claims were voluntary were to gain intelligence about the Iraqi government and military and to learn the identities of any spies or terrorists in the United States

Although the bureau says it is not using the interviews to arrest large numbers of Iraqis, two law enforcement officials said about 30 have been detained o­n immigration charges since the programme began last week.

Some of those held are people the FBI had under surveillance and decided to apprehend when hostilities with Iraq began. None had been charged with any terrorist plot, espionage or any other criminal offenses.

The bureau hopes to complete its initial plan to interview 11,000 Iraqis living in the United States by this week.

These people were selected for immediate attention from a larger list of about 50,000 because they had recently traveled to Iraq or had ties to the Iraqi military, officials said.

The interviews have received a mixed reception from Muslim communities around the country. Many people say they want to help the US in its campaign against Saddam Hussein but are concerned about being singled out for scrutiny.

The FB also assured Muslims in the US that hate crimes against them will be vigorously investigated.

Al-Jazeera barred

Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has revoked the credentials of two journalists from the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera , a move which the network claims is related to its coverage of the o­ngoing war in Iraq.

However, NYSE spokesperson Ray Pellechia denied this and claimed that security reasons had prompted the revocation.

A FoxNews.com report quoted him as saying that the exchange had decided to limit the number of broadcaster since the war began and provide access o­nly to networks o­n "responsible business coverage."

Al-Jazeera

said it got a letter from NYSE saying the number of accredited TV stations needed to be reduced.

The network added that it has covered the exchange for years and believes it is the o­nly channel affected by the new ruling.

Reacting to this, Pellechia said other broadcasters had been refused accreditation or permission to increase their staff, but he declined to give examples.

On Sunday, US military officials criticised Al-Jazeera for carrying Iraqi TV footage of US prisoners of war, which contravened the Geneva convention.