Word: iranian
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...whose name is an alias, told TIME that there were indeed cells of fighters drawn from the ranks of the Mahdi Army who are now operating essentially at the behest of handlers and financiers with links to Iranian intelligence services. "They are gangs working under the name of Mahdi Army," says Ali, who joined the Mahdi Army in 2004. "The real Mahdi Army has nothing to do with them...
...military officials view such cells as rogue elements of the Mahdi Army, making them viable targets of attack despite the prevailing cease-fire declared by Sadr. But the lines between Sadr's militiamen and Iranian-backed operatives who emerge from those ranks are blurry at best in the murky world of Iraq's guerrilla movement. Ali, himself a mainline Mahdi member, says he was taken to Iran for training and, in fact, continues to receive financial support from operatives linked to Iranian intelligence. During his interview with TIME, he did not discuss whether his Mahdi Army superiors knew...
...Iraq. U.S. officials say, in addition, that Quds Force trainers, working at times apparently with experienced instructors from the Lebanese militia Hizballah, also instruct Iraqi recruits in intelligence techniques, sniper shooting and kidnapping operations before transporting them back across the border. Once in Iraq again, militants who have undergone Iranian training reportedly form cells that U.S. officials now refer to as "special groups." These cells, say U.S. officials, continue to receive funds, weapons and direction from the Quds Force as they mount attacks in Iraq against American troops...
...training in Iran came in late 2005, when he says he and a group of roughly 14 other Iraqis drove to the southern city of Amarah, near the Iranian border. Everything had been arranged through contacts in Syria and Lebanon, where he and his group had fled for a time trying to avoid capture by American forces. According to Ali, a convoy of new sport utility vehicles with drivers speaking only broken Arabic was waiting for them in Amarah. Soon the group was on the road east for a five-hour drive. The destination was an Iranian training facility, where...
...guerrilla fighter interviewed by TIME offered a similar account, though he considered his group nationalist rather than sectarian. Says Abu Mohammed of his trainers in Iran: "They all speak perfect Arabic with a Lebanese accent. But we found out when we asked that they are either Quds Force or Iranian intelligence." Mohammed and his group, however, later lost interest in attacking coalition troops and eventually parted ways with their Iranian handlers...