Insurgents' Weapons Coming from Iran

Reuters:

Sophisticated technology and explosives to make improvised bombs that are killing US and other troops in Iraq are apparently entering the country virtually unhindered from Iran, a senior British general says. Royal Marines Major General James Dutton made the comments a day after the Pentagon announced plans to increase efforts to find ways to defend against improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The devices are the leading cause of US casualties in the war. READ MORE

Maj Gen Dutton says he does not know whether the Iranian Government or its intelligence service, are helping Iraqi insurgents smuggle explosives or completed bombs across the porous border into Iraq.

"I simply don't know whether this is official Iranian policy," said Maj Gen Dutton, who commands a 13,000-strong multinational division in south-eastern Iraq.

"The IED explosives, particularly the advanced technology IEDs ... we believe the technology is coming across that border.

"We're not, regrettably, capturing these arms as they come across the border.

"You wouldn't expect me to go into great details about how we know that. But we're pretty convinced that that is where these things are coming from."

Maj Gen Dutton says the devices in question include crude but effective "explosively formed projectiles", which are cylinders filled with explosives and capped with a copper or steel plate.

The plate penetrates the armour of military vehicles, to devastating effect.

The General says coalition forces in his region are working closely with the Iraqi Government and border security guards to better police the area.

He notes that at least one large cache of explosives was found by Iraqi forces in August.

Iran denies meddling in Iraq and says the accusations against it are tied to efforts by the US and the UK to report it to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.