Most adamantly opposed are Czechs aged over 50, who remember the Cold War occupation of the Soviet military, according to the Median agency poll for the Mlada fronta Dnes newspaper.

The poll was released as experts from the US Missile Defence Agency surveyed possible silo sites on Czech army reserves this week. They examined sites in east, central and south-west regions.

The Czech defence ministry is cooperating with the US defence agency, although the Prague government has not taken an official stance and some leaders have called for a voter referendum.

The US has also looked at potential sites for anti-ballistic missile bases in Poland and Hungary. The Pentagon wants to position missiles around the world as a defence shield.

Only 17 per cent of the poll's 354 respondents would back a proposal for the Czech Republic to host US missiles; the rest are opposed. Among older Czechs, only 6 per cent backed the plan.

'For the most part people don't have enough information' about the missiles, said pollster Jaroslav Hadrava. 'As a result, they are generally dominated by apprehension and sometimes fear.'

Czechs are sensitive to the issue because of their history of foreign military dominance.

Soviet soldiers occupied the country from 1968 until 1989, when Czechs overthrew a communist regime.

Nazi Germany was in control during World War II, and the Austro- Hungarian Empire before World War I.