TWO men employed by an Upper Clatford based security firm led people to safety after a bomb ripped through a Bag-hdad hotel.

The men were sleeping in the Aike Hotel, which houses NBC television offices, when the device exploded just three feet from its outer wall.

Paul Rees who is managing director of Centurion Risk Assessment Services said his staff were working in Iraq, travelling with camera crews to advise them on security. He declined to name the two men involved because of the sensitive nature of the work.

"At present we have 32 guys out there looking after the media and about a quarter of them are from the Hampshire area," he said.

"The two at the hotel contacted me as soon as they could after they mustered everyone outside and checked everyone off.

"They got everybody out through the emergency process, but there was one guy missing - the night porter."

Mr Rees is a former Royal Marine Commando who, after 21 years' service, set up his firm in 1995.

"I left to start a training programme for the media to help them stay alive in dangerous situations," he said.

"As well as advising media in countries such as Columbia, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq we also run five day hostile environment courses for the media in the UK.

"In these we will blow them up and teach them first aid." Almost all the company's employees are ex-commandos.

With his contacts on the spot and experience Mr Rees is well placed to judge how things are going in Iraq.

"The situation is getting more and more difficult and is more like a guerilla war ever since Bush announced that the war was over," he added.

"We could be out there for years and years and at the moment UK forces are really stretched."

He believes that those employing guerilla tactics will be forced to look for fresh, soft western targets if coalition military forces manage to bolster their security in the wake of recent attacks.