AN army veteran adamant he is suffering the effects of Gulf War Syndrome fears the first alleged cases from this year's Iraqi war could be the tip of the iceberg.

Mark Banks, who lives in Kearsley, came back from the 1991 conflict suffering from a range of symptoms including anxiety, depression, breathlessness and a swollen stomach.

The symptoms, typical of those associated with so-called Gulf War Syndrome, are similar to those experienced by four soldiers involved in the invasion of Iraq who are threatening to sue the Ministry of Defence.

Stephen Cartwright, aged 24, of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, and 45-year-old Tony Barker, from Leeds, were among the four men threatening to sue the Ministry of Defence after suffering "severe physical and psychological symptoms".

But Mr Banks suspects their cases may prove the first of many. He said: "It's a shock to me that it's happened so quickly. If four cases have come to light so quickly you wonder how many there will be in a few years' time. Will there be 5,000 like after the first Gulf War?"

One theory as to why so many soldiers from the 1991 Gulf conflict have experienced similar health problems points to multiple innoculations troops were given before heading to the Middle East.

Mark McGhee, the Manchester-based solicitor for the four men involved in the latest cases, said all four had received multiple inoculations in one day, contrary to Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon's statement to the Commons earlier this year.

Mr McGhee said: "It is my understanding that specific guidance was given to medical officers that these inoculations were not to be administered on a multiple basis."

Mr Hoon told MPs in January that "a key lesson" learnt from the 1991 Gulf War was the importance of ensuring that troops should not receive a number of different vaccinations in a short timeframe.

Reacting to the claims that these guildines may have been ignored, Mr Banks said: "We thought lessons had been learned but it doesn't sound like it."

Charles Plumridge, senior co-ordinator of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association (NGVFA), said two of the four soldiers did not end up being deployed because they suffered such bad reactions.

Mr Plumridge, who served in the 1991 conflict, said the symptoms reported by the four soldiers were "more or less similar" to those experienced by veterans of the first Gulf War.

"The only exception is they have come on rather early," he said.

Professor Malcolm Hooper, chief scientific adviser to the NGVFA, said the MoD did not seem to have learned from "the mistakes of the 1991 conflict" in relation to multiple vaccinations.