http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq19may19,0,7182825.st ory?coll=la-home-center
Suspected bomb smugglers captured by U.S. in Iraq The six men captured in northeast Baghdad are suspected of smuggling deadly armored-piercing bombs from Iran into Iraq, the U.S. military said. BAGHDAD -- American soldiers today captured six men in northeast Baghdad suspected of smuggling deadly armored-piercing bombs from Iran into Iraq, the U.S. military said, while a powerful Shiite political leader arrived in the United States for medical tests. "The individuals targeted during the raids are suspected members of a secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training," the U.S. military said in a statement. One of the detainees is believed to be a cell leader "responsible for the planning and coordinating of numerous murders, kidnappings, assassinations and attacks on Iraqi civilians and coalition forces," the statement said. The U.S. military also reported that it found two weapons caches, which included materials for EFPs, in northwestern Baghdad on Tuesday. The EFP is a bomb that launches a molten slug which can punch holes through U.S. Humvees and heavier armored vehicles. The Americans believe EFPs are primarily a tool of Shiite militias, particularly factions within populist Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's Al Mahdi militia. His movement has tried to silence the arms during the current Baghdad security plan, but some of his followers from the Al Mahdi army have not adhered to the cleric's truce. Underscoring the tense situation, a follower of Sadr read the cleric's latest sermon to the faithful in Sadr City today, warning Iraqi forces to stop cooperating with U.S. forces if they wanted the continuing support of Sadr's movement. But the speech did not specify whether Sadr would actually call for an open revolt if the government and Iraqi security forces do not meet his demands. Meanwhile, Shiite political leader Abdel Aziz Hakim arrived in the United States for testing. A member of his party said Hakim suffers from high blood pressure and a week ago doctors recommended he go for more thorough testing in the United States. Hakim heads the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq. Last week, his movement changed its name from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Some Western experts said the change in name was meant to distance the party, which has 30 seats in parliament, from Iran, which was its chief patron from its founding in 1982 until after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. South of Baghdad, U.S. troops continued to search for three soldiers who were feared to have been abducted last Saturday by an Al Qaeda affiliate. An estimated 4,000 U.S. forces and 2,000 Iraqi troops were on the hunt one week after the attack, which killed four U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi translator. "It is the same mission. There is no letup or change," said U.S. army spokesman Lt. Col. Randy Martin. "I don't see any scaling down of that effort." Five bodies were found in Babil province, just south of the massive dragnet for the missing Americans, police said. A source from the Sunni Endowment in Basra said that eight Sunni men disappeared Thursday night when they accompanied a man wounded in a bombing to the hospital in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, which is home to a Shiite majority. In the past, Shiite militias have kidnapped Sunni men from hospitals. Also Thursday night, three truck drivers in a convoy were shot dead on the road between the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, police said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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