The United States plans to set up an Iraqi intelligence service to spy on groups and individuals inside Iraq that are targeting US troops and civilians, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

Citing unidentified US officials, the Post said the CIA plans to set up the new service with help from Jordan. Two members of an Iraqi exile group are at CIA headquarters in Virginia this week to work out details of the new program, the Post said.

Iraqi Interior Minister Nouri Badran, a secular Shiite Muslim, has been selected to head the service initially, the Post said. Badran has worked with the CIA over the past decade to incite coups against Saddam Hussein.