By Xinhua,
Baghdad : The U.S. military said its troops arrested an Iranian-trained bomb expert affiliated to a Shiite extremist militia in southeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.
A U.S. military statement said the troops raided the house of the suspect in the town of Numaniyah, some 180 km near the city of Kut.
The targeted suspect is believed to be a member of Iranian-backed “Special Groups” Shiite militia, the statement said.
Intelligence obtained from other Special Groups suspects already detained, said that the suspect is believed to have traveled to Iran several times for explosives training, it said.
The suspect also “has numerous Iranian contacts with whom he would meet when smuggling weapons and bomb-making materials into Iraq,” the statement said.
According to U.S. statements’ terminology, the Special Groups are Shiite militia extremists funded, trained and armed by Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force operatives.
Previously, U.S. and some Iraqi officials accused Iran of arming, funding and training Shiite militias in Iraq. Iran denies the accusations.