Egyptians, Sudanese, Jordanians, Saudis and Syrian volunteer fighters are continuing to enter Iraq to fight against US-led invasion forces as they move in on Baghdad.

One officer with the 1st Marine Division told AFP that his troops had fought a 10 hour battle with hundreds of fighters southeast of Baghdad yesterday, claiming to have killed 300-400 by dawn this morning.

"Some of these fighters come from Sudan, Egypt, other places and we have killed a number of them and captured a number of them," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a briefing at Central Command in Qatar.

Nevertheless, there are now signs that the steady trickle of immigrant fighters may be growing in size. Western intelligence sources say that they have detected groups of Saudi fighters trying to get into Iraq to attack US and UK forces there, according to the BBC. Others are trying to cross into Iraq from Iran. Four groups of Saudis are also said to have left their hideouts in Afghanistan to join Iraqi forces as well.

Yemen has prevented 39 of its nationals from travelling to Damascus. Their one-way tickets had been paid for by the Ba’ath party of Yemen. The ages of the young men ranged from between 20-25, mostly from the province of Ma’rib. Since the decision to stop one-way ticket holders from going to Damascus and Amman, there is no way of knowing how many have made it through.

Despite repeated warnings from the US, Damascus has continued to allow passage of volunteers across its border with Iraq. Thousands of volunteers, most of them Syrians, have made their way to the Mosul and Kirkuk regions in northern Iraq. Haitham Kilani, Syria's former ambassador to the United Nations, said Syria had a long border with Iraq and that it was "only natural" for volunteers to be crossing.

Egypt’s highest religious authority, Sheikh Al-Azhar Mohammed Sayed Tantawi said yesterday: “whoever wants to go to Iraq to support the Iraqi people, the door is open, and I say the door for Jihad is open until the day of judgement. Whoever wants to go to support the Iraqi people, I welcome that, I welcome that, I welcome that. I say to him go with peace and I wish you well. We do not prevent anyone from going to help those who are facing injustice.� Activists say hundreds of Egyptians have signed up with the country’s Lawyers’ Union to fight in Iraq.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said last week that more than 6,000 volunteers had reached Iraq from the Arab world with Muslims from Sweden to Sudan and Morocco to Afghanistan, with senior Iraqi officials making similar statements last weekend.

Such is the passion the war has stoked in the Muslim world, even far-flung countries are producing volunteers, on paper at least. Yesterday the Muktijoddha Sangsad (Freedom Fighters Association) in Bangladesh said it planned to send voluntary soldiers to Iraq to fight the "invading" US-led troops, reported the official Bangladesh News Agency.

It said that some 10,000 Bangladeshi volunteers were now ready to join the war against "aggression" in Iraq while more intending volunteers were welcome to register their names with the council.