Bomb at a Baghdad Market Had Iranian Fingerprints

The NYT reported yesterday on a bomb at Ghazil animal market in Baghdad that killed 13 and wounded scores more. This certainly seemed like an attack by al Qaeda in Iraq . . . except that it was not. And also unlike so many previous attacks, intelligence tips led to the quick capture of the people who were responsible in a series of raids conducted by the U.S. military. This from the AP:

[T]he bomb was packed with ball bearings to maximize casualties and that it bore the hallmarks of a so-called special group, the military term for Shiite extremists who have broken with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The cleric called on his fighters to stand down in August.

"In raids overnight, Iraqi and coalition forces were able to identify and detain four members of a militia extremist group we assess as responsible for this horrific act of indiscriminate violence," Smith said. "Based on subsequent confessions, forensics and other intelligence, the bombing was the work of an Iranian-backed special groups cell operating here in Baghdad."

The allegation came despite recent statements from U.S. commanders expressing cautious optimism about a decline in Shiite violence along with claims that Iran has begun limiting its support of Shiite extremists.

Tehran denies charges it is fomenting violence in Iraq, saying it is trying to help stabilize its fellow predominantly Shiite neighbor.

Smith stressed he was not blaming Iran for Friday's bombing, saying it remained to be seen if Tehran was honoring a pledge to halt the flow of weapons into Iraq. U.S. military commanders have said they continue to find Iranian munitions in Iraq but cannot be sure if they have been recently sent or leftover from previous shipments.

"I'm not saying that yesterday Iran ordered the bombing of the pet market," Smith said. But, he said, the attack had the "fingerprints" of a group that had been trained, equipped and facilitated through Iranian connections. . . .

Read the article here. Iran trains and funds these groups. And while they may not direct a particular act, they fund the groups on the amount of death and destruction they sow. I do not understand why the U.S. military is soft peddaling the role the sociopaths of the Khomeinist theocracy are playing in Iraq. Clearly Iraq's Shia population seems to recognize it.

(AP Photo/Karim Kadim

(H/T Powerline)