Sources: 'Highest levels' of Iran government funneling sophisticated explosives to extremist groups

Handouts from today's briefing by the U.S. in Baghdad

BAGHDAD Feb 11 -- Iranian security forces, taking orders from the "highest levels" of the Iranian government, are funneling sophisticated explosives to extremist groups in Iraq, and the weapons have grown increasingly deadly for U.S.-led troops over the past two years, senior defense officials said Sunday in Baghdad.

Three defense officials from the U.S.-led Multi-National Force in Baghdad, laid out for reporters what they described as a "growing body of evidence" that Iran is manufacturing and exporting into Iraq the armor piercing explosives, known as "explosively formed penetrators," or EFPs, that have killed more than 170 coalition troops, and wounded more than 620 others, in the past two years.

"Iran is a significant contributor to attacks on coalition forces," said a senior defense official in Baghdad, who like the two other officials spoke on condition of anonymity. He added that Iran is the only country in the region that produces these weapons.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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