Iraqi assassination teams training in Iran – US military
Washington, 15 August (IranVNC)—Iraqi assassination squads are being trained in four Iranian cities by that country’s elite Quds Force and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a senior U.S. military official said today.
By: IranVNC
Published: Friday, August 15, 2008
14:34GMT—10:34AM/EST
IRAN – IRAQ – SECURITY
Washington, 15 August (IranVNC)—Iraqi assassination squads are being trained in four Iranian cities by that country’s elite Quds Force and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a senior U.S. military official said today.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Shiite “special groups” were being trained in Tehran, Mashhad, Qom and Ahvaz and are planning on returning to Iraq in the next few months to assassinate specific Iraqi officials as well as US and Iraqi troops.
“They are being trained by Quds Force under the leadership of Qassim Suleimani and Lebanese Hezbollah,” the official was quoted by AFP as saying. The Quds Force is a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC].
Based on intelligence gathered from captured militants and other sources in Iraq, the official said many of the fighters had fled to Iran this spring after Iraqi forces launched a crackdown on Shiite militants in Basra and Baghdad’s Sadr City.
The US official handed several lists of the expected targets, which include many judges, over to Iraq’s national security adviser on Wednesday, according to AP.
According to AP, the official acknowledged revealing the information in an effort to pressure Iran to suspend the training and prevent the fighters from returning to Iraq. The US military also wants Iraq to take action to protect the targets.
The U.S. has in the past accused Iran of stirring up violence in Iraq by arming, training and funding Shiite groups for attacks on US forces. Iran has denied giving support to Shiite militias in neighboring Iraq.
To date, the US military has associated “special groups” with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, but the official did not link these hit squads with those trained by al-Sadr, reports Reuters.
Violence in the war-torn country has fallen to a four-year low, due in part to the “surge” of US troops, Iraq’s crackdown on Shiite militias and a unilateral-ceasefire declared last year by al-Sadr.
Sources: Agence France-Presse, Associated Press
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