Iranian Weapons Found in Iraq, says US Military
US military personnel have discovered Iranian weapons in Iraq, according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal on the 25th April. The arms - explosives, rockets and mortars - bore stamps suggesting that they had been recently manufactured.
Date Stamps
"You can see the manufacturing dates right on the armaments themselves", the newspaper quoted a Baghdad-based senior commander as having said.
"These are very clearly weapons that were made in the last month or so."
Iran has denied claims based on it having supplied Iraqi insurgents with weapons. Likewise, it denies having supplied training to militant forces.
Shiite Extremist Attacks
Recently, a US commander commented on how the increasingly high level of sophistication evident in Shiite extremist attacks were proof that Iranian groups based in Iraq were giving them additional aid.
These attacks, said Major General Rick Lynch , were "more effective than before".
He continued:"We are seeing an increase in [Iranian] influence... the number of attacks that are directly attributed to Iranian influence have indeed increased."
"The number of EFP [explosively formed penetrator] attacks have increased, the number of Iranian rocket attacks have indeed increased, the amount of Iranian weapons I am finding on the battlefield has increased.
"The amount of Shiite extremists who tie their training back to Iran have indeed increased."
Weapons Caches
Lynch added that soldiers under his command had found previous weapons caches featuring arms that bore Iranian provenance.
One of these caches, he said, included "enough components for 1,100 EFPs directly traceable back to Iran."
Source - Armed Forces International's Middle East Correspondent
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