BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military showed on Monday what it said was further evidence of Iranian-made weapons being used by Iraqi militants, including explosives linked to sophisticated roadside bombs.
The weapons, which included mortar bombs and 122 mm rockets, were found during a raid by U.S. forces and Iraqi police on Saturday near the volatile city of Baquba, north of Baghdad.
Washington, which accuses Iran of fanning violence in Iraq, is particularly concerned about what it calls "explosively formed projectiles" ..... capable of penetrating armored vehicles.
The U.S. military say such bombs, which it calls EFPs, have killed 170 U.S. soldiers in Iraq since 2004.
Military officials showed reporters in Baghdad 14 large rockets, 19 mortars and several bags of C4 plastic explosive they said were made in Iran since 2004....
Other parts of the cache, which officers described as a bomb factory .......were not directly linked to Iran and their origin was unclear.
Tehran denies it fuels violence in Iraq."I don't think there is any way for us to know if it is tied to any government," Major Jeremy Siegrist said of the cache.
....One completed bomb was found as well as around 150 copper discs -- the key component of EFPs -- rolls of electrical wire, plastic pipes to use as casings, ball-bearings and batteries.
Major Marty Weber, an explosives expert, said the use of a narrow tube attached to the bomb as a simple sighting-device to aim it was characteristic of Iranian-linked devices used by militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon in recent years. More....
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