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Insight News Television presents a film on Ansar al-Islam - the radical Islamic militia named by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in his speach to the UN. He said it was one of the missing links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

Our reporter, Jonathan Miller, spent two days with Ansar's leader, Mullah Krekar. Krekar's an Iraqi Kurd, but is today living in Norway, which granted his family political asylum ten years ago. Refugee status hasn't stopped him from returning regularly to Northern Iraq to wage jihad and commit human rights abuses against his own people. Krekar set up a Taliban-style mini-state on the Iraq / Iran border where pop music and TV have been outlawed and Sharia law rules.

Powell said Ansar al-Islam offered sanctuary to al-Qaeda fighters who fled Afghanistan - chief among them, bin Laden's chemical and biological weapons man, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. He's been linked to the assassination of a US diplomat in Jordan last October and the ricin poison plot in Britain last month. Powell also said an Iraqi agent occupies a leadership position in Ansar al-Islam.

In interview, the Mullah addresses each of the detailed allegations put to him - the same allegations made by Powell at the UN. Miller presents Krekar with detailed video and audiotape evidence of his activities and of atrocities which international human rights groups say his group carried out.

Krekar denies links with al-Qaeda and says he is Saddam's his sworn enemy. He scoffs at the idea that his trusted friend, the Iraqi Arab Abu Wa'il, is a spy. He denies any links with international terrorism and said he'd never met al-Zarqawi.

The film depicts the Mullah as a family man: a loving father, husband - and son: his ageing mother tells us how much she loves him and laughs off the allegations against him. But Krekar shows his dark side, describing suicide bombing as the very very best sort of jihad and revelling in pictures showing how his fighters had decapitated and mutilated members of a rival Kurdish militia.

We have also acquired video footage filmed inside Ansar territory, showing the Islamists training. Child soldiers feature prominently; Krekar is seen standing beside the man Powell thinks is an Iraqi agent; sharia punishments are administered.

The Mullah claims he had a secret meeting with the CIA and US military personnel in Iraqi Kurdistan last year. Could this explain why US intelligence agencies were reportedly so concerned about Powell raising Ansar al-Islam as one of the key connections between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda?

Insight News Television can also offer access to the full interview with Mullah Krekar as well as additional pictures from inside Ansar al-Islam territory.