The BBC was accused last night of risking the safety of British forces in Iraq after trawling for information on troop movements in the war-torn country.

Politicians reacted in disbelief to the revelation that for over two hours yesterday, the BBC News website carried a request for people in Iraq to report on troop movements.

The request was removed from the website after it sparked furious protests that the corporation was endangering the lives of British servicemen and women.

But according to accounts last night, a story on a major operation by US and Iraqi troops against al-Qa’eda somewhere north of Baghdad contained an extraordinary request for information about the movement of troops.

Last night the BBC confirmed the wording of the request was: “Are you in Iraq? Have you seen any troop movements? If you have any information you would like to share with the BBC, you can do so using the form below.”

The BBC confirmed last night that this form of words had appeared on the website from “late morning” until early afternoon.

“It was down by 2pm,” The Daily Telegraph was told.

Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, voiced his shock at what he claimed was a “bizarre” request for information about army movements.

“I am appalled because it shows either a wilful disregard for the safety of our Armed Forces or a shocking lack of understanding about their safety.

“It makes me wonder who makes these decisions. The BBC now needs to have urgent discussions with the Armed Forces as to how this message came about,” Dr Fox said.

The blunder sparked a flood of protests from army insiders and servicemen’s relatives, posted on the Army Rumour Service website (www.arrse.co.uk). One woman, who described herself as an “Army wife”, said she was “shocked and dismayed” that the BBC was asking people “to report our troop movements on an open forum which could be read by insurgent forces and/or their allies”.

The BBC insisted last night that the information would not have been published, saying “this was not a blog”.

(D) San Francisco Chronicle, William Pates, letters editor for the editorial page, $600 to John Kerry in three donations in March and April 2004. Pates, who selected which letters were published, was moved to the sports copy desk after the staff of a Web site at San Jose State University, Grade the News, asked about his contributions. The Newspaper Guild contested the transfer and Pates is now back as the letters editor.

Pates did not return a message, but he told The Associated Press that he had not thought the paper’s policy against political activity would apply to him, because he worked on the opinion pages.

The paper’s editorial page editor, John Diaz, told MSNBC.com that Pates had done an honest, professional job in his “gatekeeper role” and just hadn’t thought the issue through.