IRAQ: Iraqi security forces seize large weapons cache south of Baghdad

Record ID: 333787

  • Title: IRAQ: Iraqi security forces seize large weapons cache south of Baghdad
  • Date: 4th May 2008
  • Summary: SIGN READING "MINISTRY OF INTERIOR- KERBALA POLICE STATION" KERBALA POLICE CHIEF MAJOR GENERAL RAED SHAKER JAWDAT SITTING DOWN IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR GENERAL RAED SHAKER JAWDAT, KERBALA POLICE CHIEF, SAYING: "There is an Iranian interference. Yes, there are Iranian made weapons. Yes, there is an Iranian element to the locally made weapons, and regretfull
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA4C6N7FT0Q3CKC3CXXJY7GPC7I
  • Story Text: Iraqi Security Forces discover large weapons cache during a search operation in Kerbala as part of a security crackdown launched by Iraqi Prime MInister Nuri al-Maliki.
    Iraqi Security Forces said on Saturday (May 3) said they had discovered a large weapons cache following a search operation carried out in the southern Iraqi city of Kerbala, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Baghdad.
    The search operation is part of a crackdown on Shi'ite militias in Baghdad, Basra and other southern Iraqi cities launched by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
    The weapons cache, which included 20,000 Iranian made weapons, was discovered by joint security forces from the Iraqi police and army.
    Kerbala Police Chief Major General Raed Shaker Jawdat accused Iran of being behind the violence in southern Iraq.

    "There is an Iranian interference. Yes, there are Iranian made weapons. Yes, there is an Iranian element to the locally made weapons, and regretfully I am referring to the roadside bombs," he said.
    The U.S. military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has said that significant amounts of Iranian weapons had been found in Iraq since Maliki launched an offensive against militias in late March.
    Washington accuses Shi'ite Iran of arming, training and funding rogue elements of the Mehdi Army militia of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Iran denies the charges.
    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has sent a delegation to tell Iran to stop backing Shi'ite militias, officials said on Thursday (May 1), underscoring Iraq's unease over the influence of its powerful neighbour.
    The delegation from Maliki's ruling United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) left for Tehran on Wednesday (April 30) amid further accusations from U.S. military officials that large amounts of Iranian weapons have been found in Iraq.
    Iran and Iraq fought an eight-year war in the 1980s in which hundreds of thousands were killed. Ties have improved since Sunni Arab strongman Saddam Hussein was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion and a Shi'ite-led government came to power in Baghdad
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