Airline passengers and crew members held captive and used as human shield by Iraqi forces for four months during the Kuwait invasion in 1990 are planning to sue the United Kingdom government and British Airways for damages.

McCue Jury & Partners, the legal counsel of some of the victims, said the legal action would "ensure the truth is fully disclosed, those responsible are held to account, and due compensation is paid."

It said each of the hostages "may claim an estimated average of £170,000 ($213,000) each in damages."

The law firm said that "what the hostages now know is that evidence exists" that the UK government and the airline "knew the invasion had already begun" but allowed the flight to land anyway.

The victims claimed "the flight was being used to insert a black ops team of former special forces and security services" into Kuwait, the firm added.

A total 367 passengers and crew of BA flight 149 were taken off the Kuala Lumpur-bound plane when it landed in the Gulf state on 2 August 1990, hours after Saddam Hussein's troops swept into the emirate.

"We were not treated as citizens, but as expendable pawns for commercial and political gain," Barry Manners, who was on the flight and is taking part in the claim, said.

WITH AFP