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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...

Tehran's Blood-soaked Hands July 11, 2007 The Washington Times As American and Iraqi casualties mount, U.S. military commanders have become increasingly willing to criticize Tehran's role in fueling the violence in Iraq — something senators would do well to bear in mind this week while going on about the need to withdraw or "redeploy" American troops there. According to Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, Tehran had a direct role in a Jan. 20 attack on the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center in which five American soldiers were killed — four of them murdered after being abducted by Iranian-backed radicals who wore...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A top special operations officer from Lebanon's Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah has been captured in Iraq, where U.S. officials say he played a key role in a January attack that killed five Americans. Ali Mussa Daqduq, an explosives expert, was captured in March in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, where he was helping train and lead Shiite militias fighting coalition troops, U.S. intelligence officials told CNN. Daqduq pretended to be deaf and mute when captured, and his identity was not known for weeks, the officials said. Once uncovered, however, they said he began to talk, and...