Basra police chief says roadside bomb that killed 4 British soldiers was Iranian

Iraqis hold a British soldier's helmet and pieces of the British military Warrior fighting vehicle as they cheer yesterday in Basra

The commander of Basra’s police force said today that the massive bomb that killed four British soldiers yesterday morning was similar to Iranian-made devices that have been used to deadly effect in other parts of Iraq.

British army officials said their own explosives experts had completed their assessment of the device that destroyed the 24-tonne Warrior armoured personnel carrier, but refused to either confirm or deny the commander’s claim...

Officials believe the anti-British operations to be the work of a Mahdi faction that has drifted away the main current of the nationalist Shia force and come under the influence of Iran. While Iranian influence on the militia as a whole is believed to be limited in scope, the small groups affiliated with Tehran receive disproportional amounts of funding and weaponry from their eastern neighbour.

Read the rest at the Times of London

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