DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: IRAN SUPPLYING SUNNI JIHADISTS

U.S.: Iranian arms in Sunni area
New alleged link is rare; country typically has Shiite ties
BY ALISSA J. RUBIN, The New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Arms that U.S. military officials say appear to have been manufactured in Iran as recently as last year have turned up in the past week in a Sunni-majority area, the chief spokesman for the U.S. military command in Iraq said Wednesday in a news conference.

The spokesman, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell IV, said detainees in U.S. custody had indicated that Iranian intelligence operatives had given support to Sunni insurgents and that surrogates for the Iranian intelligence service were training Shiite extremists in Iran. He gave no further description of the detainees and did not say why they would have that information.

"We have in fact found some cases recently where Iranian intelligence sources have provided to Sunni insurgent groups some support," said Caldwell, who sat near a table crowded with weapons that he said the military contended were largely of Iranian manufacture.

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1) U.S.: Iranian arms in Sunni area