'Intelligence Officials': Iran runs own network of insurgents in attacks against U.S. troops

WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Iran has recruited its own network of Iraqi Shi'ite extremists to use armor-piercing weapons against U.S. and coalition forces rather than against Sunni rivals, current and former intelligence officials say.

The secretive Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has circumvented Shi'ite organizations like the Mehdi Army to enlist individual militants and train them in the use of explosively formed penetrators, the officials said.

The weapons, known as EFPs, have killed 170 U.S.-led coalition troops, according to the Pentagon. U.S. officials have said these weapons have come into greater use over the past year.

"The purpose appears not to be to shore up Iran's political partners in Iraq against the Sunnis, but to cause problems for American troops," said a former intelligence official who closely monitors events in the Middle East.

Tehran denies supplying the arms, and President George W. Bush has said the United States cannot prove complicity by Iran's leaders.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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