Time Magazine April 26, 2007:
When unknown gunmen abducted and killed five American soldiers from a joint U.S.-Iraqi base in Karbala in January, suspicion immediately fell on an elite Iranian paramilitary outfit called the Quds Force. The attack certainly bore signs of elaborate planning and professional execution: Nine to twelve fighters wearing U.S.-style military uniforms slipped onto the base driving sport utility vehicles, apparently duping guards at the gate. Once inside, the gunmen opened fire and threw grenades, killing one American soldier before seizing four others and speeding away. The entire operation was completed in roughly 20 minutes.
On March 22, the U.S. military announced the arrest of Qais Khazali and his brother Laith, saying the two were apprehended in Basra and Hillah after coming under suspicion of involvement in the Karbala incident. Other arrests of the so-called Khazali network followed. Qais Khazali had been a protege of Moqtada al-Sadr in 2004 and 2005, but his relationship to Sadr and the cleric's Mahdi Army militia these days is unclear. Investigators who've been questioning Qais Khazali since his arrest say he has been working closely with the Quds Force in recent times, however, leading a group of Iraqi Shi'ite militants who've trained in Iran. Speaking to reporters on a visit to Washington, this week, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Khazali's network was definitely behind the Karbala attack.
"This is the head of the secret cell network," Petraeus said. "They were provided substantial funding, training on Iranian soil, advanced explosive munitions and technologies as well as run-of-the-mill arms and ammunition, in some cases advice, and in some cases even a degree of direction."
Petraeus said Khazali's cell members kept detailed records of the Karbala attack and other operations, presumably to show Quds Force financiers and trainers.
"There are numerous documents which detailed a number of different attacks on coalition forces, and our sense is that these records were kept so that they could be handed in to whoever it is that is financing them," Petraeus said. "And there's no question, again, that Iranian financing is taking place through the Quds Force of the Iranian Republican Guards Corps."
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