DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ/IRAN: IRANIAN MONEY FOUND IN IRAQ BY U.S. MILITARY

Iranian money found in Baghdad raid: US military

A large quantity of Iranian currency was found when US troops uncovered a cache of bomb-making materials in a raid on a Shi'ite stronghold in western Baghdad yesterday, the US military said.

The United States has accused Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq by backing Shi'ite militias, and of providing weapons and the technology for particularly deadly roadside bombs.

The military said two militants were killed in yesterday's raid and 19 people were detained during a search of 11 buildings in Sadr City, a sprawling Shi'ite slum which is a stronghold of anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr. "The individual targeted during the raid is suspected of facilitating weapons shipments from Iran to secret cell terrorist elements in Baghdad, Basra and Maysan provinces," the US military said in a statement.

A search of the buildings uncovered "a large quantity of Iranian money" as well as $ 6,000 and bomb-making materials, the statement said.

Ambassadors from the United States and Iran will meet in Iraq on May 28 to discuss security in the country, a rare meeting between the two bitter rivals.

Iran denies it is fomenting violence in Iraq and accuses the United States of igniting tension between Iraq's Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims. The US military said on Monday it had killed Azhar Al Dulaimi, the mastermind of an audacious attack in January on a government compound in Kerbala.

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1) Iranian money found in Baghdad raid: US military