With the possibility of a military strike against Iraq increasing by the day and US soldiers conducing war games in Kuwait, the UN Observer Mission in the demilitarized zone between Kuwait and Iraq has ordered evacuation of its civilian staff after border fences were found cut at many places, possibly by American soldiers.

The peacekeeping force, which has about 200 observers and 775 Bangladeshi military support units, has been placed on 'red alert', which means they would be confined to their bases and stop patrolling the zone, reports reaching the United Nations said.

The UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM) was established after the 1991 Gulf war to man the 16 km deep and more than 300 km long demilitarized zone to keep peace between Iraq and Kuwait.

Sources at the UN said the civilians number around 230 and some of them have already left the zone. Others are expected to leave shortly.

The action to evacuate civilians to Kuwait City and stop patrolling of the area came after the observers reported that Kuwait workers cut the border fence between the two countries at around 35 places and some of the cuts were big enough to allow military vehicles through.

The UN has said workers in civilian dresses had cut the fence, but some of them identified themselves as US marines.

The world body's officials said the act is a breach of the Security Council's resolution, which prohibits military personnel from entering the zone and have informed the headquarters about encroachment by the US military and a letter was sent to the Council on Saturday.