Free Republic

Qayis and Layith Qazali. Click to view. The kidnapping of five British contractors - four security guards and a financial consultant - has long been suspected of being an Iranian-backed job. A recent report in the Times Online confirmed an Iranian extremist group has demanded the release of Qais Qazali, the leader of the Iranian-backed Qazali network, in exchange for the five Britons. "Senior Iraqi government sources say their captors have promised they will not be harmed but any rescue attempt would endanger them," the Times Online reported. "They claimed the hostages will remain prisoners 'for as long as...

US General: Arrested Iranian an Intelligence Agent October 03, 2007 AFP Khaleej Times Online BAGHDAD -- An Iranian arrested by US forces in Iraq’sKurdish region had been involved in Teheran’s intelligence operations in Iraq for more than a decade, an American general said on Wednesday. ‘Multiple sources’ had also implicated him in providing weapons to ‘Iraqi criminal elements in the service of Iran,’ US military spokesman Major General Kevin Bergner told a news conference in Baghdad. On September 20, US troops raided a hotel in Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous northern autonomous region and seized Mahmudi Farhadi, claiming he was a...