Iran helping Iraqis make bombs: US

Iran has been training Iraqi fighters how to assemble deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the US military spokesperson said

Iran has been training Iraqi fighters how to assemble deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the US military spokesperson said on Wednesday.

EFPs or explosively formed penetrators, hurl a molten, fist-sized lump of molten copper capable of piercing armoured vehicles.

“We know that they are being in fact manufactured and smuggled into this country, and we know that training does go on in Iran for people to learn how to assemble and employ them,” Maj Gen William Caldwell said at a weekly briefing. “We know that training has gone on as recently as this past month from detainees’ debriefs.”

Story continues below this ad

The general, however, did not specify which arm of the Iranian government was doing the training but called the trainers “surrogates” of Iran’s intelligence agency.

In January, US officials said at least 170 of its soldiers had been killed by EFPs.

Caldwell said the US military also had evidence that Iranian intelligence agents were active in Iraq in funding, training and arming Shiite militia fighters. “We know that training is still being conducted in Iran for insurgent elements from Iraq,” he said. The military spokesperson added that fighters were trained in how to carry out complex attacks that used explosives, followed by assaults with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.