Some Iraq bombs made in Iran -NYTimes report

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some sophisticated new roadside bombs
being used against U.S. and Iraqi troops are being designed in
Iran and shipped from there, The New York Times reported on
Saturday.

Citing U.S. military and intelligence officials, the Times
said the information about the origin of the new weapons
suggests a new level of cooperation between Iranian Shi’ite
Muslims and Iraqi Sunnis against the U.S. presence in Iraq. The
commanders told the newspaper this was puzzling given
increasing sectarian violence within Iraq.

According to military bomb experts, the new weapons are
designed specifically to target armored vehicles. They first
began appearing about two months ago, and one senior military
officer said “tens” of them had been brought into Iraq and used
against coalition forces, killing or wounding several U.S.
troops in recent weeks, the Times said.

“These are among the most sophisticated and most lethal
devices we’ve seen,” the Times quoted a senior officer as
saying. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of
the delicate intelligence reports describing the bombs.

“It’s very serious,” he said in the report.

Some shipments may have been brought over the Iranian
border by Hizbollah or Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Pentagon and
intelligence officials said. The bombs closely match those used
by Hizbollah against Israel.

U.S. officials said they had no evidence of the Iranian
government’s involvement.