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Tuesday, November 27, 2007       Free Headline Alerts

U.S. military: No evidence Iran has stopped shipping explosives to Iraq

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military reported that Iran has maintained its support for insurgency strikes around Baghdad despite assurances to the contrary.

"I have not seen those attacks abate, and I have not seen any indication that they intend to stop," U.S. Army Col. Don Farris, commander of U.S. forces in the northern Baghdad area, said.

Officials said the U.S. military has assessed that Iran, despite its pledge to Washington, continued to ship explosively-formed projectiles to Shi'ite militias in southern and central Iran. They said the militias used EFPs in strikes against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

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[On Tuesday, at least four Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. military fire in a Shi'ite neighborhood in northern Baghdad, Middle East Newsline reported. The U.S. military said the civilians were passengers of a minibus whose driver entered a restricted area.]

In a briefing on Monday, Farris said Iran remains heavily involved in insurgency operations in Baghdad. He cited Sadr City, with a population of 2.5 million and what he termed a "hub for these activities coming from Iran."

Military officials said the Multinational Force has agreed with Farris. They said the military has determined that EFPs supplied by Iran contributed to an increase in bombing attacks around the Iraqi capital.

"We're still seeing a large number of Iranian-made weapons still exist here in Iraq," U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said on Nov. 18. "The degree to which Iran has ceased completely its training, equipping, financing and resourcing has yet to be completely witnessed."

The Shi'ite militias have continued to receive weapons, training and funds from Teheran, officials said. They said the weapons have included so-called "lob bombs" manufactured in Iran.

In October, U.S. forces captured two Iranian operatives in the Baghdad area. The operatives were said to belong to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and facilitated operations by the new Special Groups.

"In my sector the assessment is we have not seen any slowing down or any indicators that these Special Groups are going to curtail their activities or quit receiving this support that's coming from outside the country," Farris said.

Farris said attacks have declined by 75 percent since May 2007. But he acknowledged that his troops patrol only 20 percent of Sadr City to avoid friction with the Iranian-backed Mahdi Army.

"They're very lethal, they're organized, they're sophisticated, and I have not seen that their operations have declined or diminished in any way, shape or form here in the last several months," Farris said.


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