NORWAY?

The leader of an al Qaeda-linked terror group responsible for some of the biggest attacks on coalition forces in Iraq calls the shots from an apartment in Norway, U.S. counterterrorism officials say.

The officials told The Post they are increasingly frustrated over Mullah Krekar, the founder and spiritual leader of Ansar al-Islam. Last week the Pentagon branded the group the "principal terrorist adversary" of U.S. forces in Iraq...

Krekar and his family have held refugee status in Norway since 1991 - although he spent much of the time in northern Iraq leading a Taliban-style reign of terror in small villages under Ansar al-Islam's control.

Pentagon officials said the group has moved into the Baghdad area, where it is coordinating with pro-Saddam Ba'athists and al Qaeda fighters. The group is believed to be responsible for a series of suicide car-bombing attacks on coalition installations.

Brinjar Meling, Krekar's Norwegian lawyer, told The Post his client "is no longer part of Ansar and cannot be held responsible for anything Ansar has done after 2002."