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U.S. Ties Iranians to Iraq Attack that Killed G.I.'s

[New York Times] Michael R. Gordon - Iranian operatives helped plan a January raid in Karbala in which five American soldiers were killed, an American military spokesman in Iraq said Monday. Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has used operatives from the Lebanese Hizbullah as a "proxy" to train and arm Shiite militants in Iraq. American military officials have long asserted that the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, has trained and equipped Shiite militants in Iraq. But they had previously stopped short of making a case that the Quds Force may have been directly involved in planning attacks. Gen. Bergner said that interrogations of Qais Khazali, a Shiite militant who oversaw Iranian-supported cells in Iraq and who was captured several months ago, showed that Iran's Quds force helped plan the operation. Similar information was obtained following the capture of a senior Hizbullah operative, Ali Musa Daqduq, Gen. Bergner said. "Our intelligence reveals that the senior leadership in Iran is aware of this activity," he added.
2007-06-03 01:00:00
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