By Stephen Coates
Agence France-Presse, 29 April 2003.
OUTSIDE BAQUBAH, Iraq, April 29 (AFP) - US troops are fighting shadows near the Iraq-Iran border amid a mounting war of words between Tehran and Washington over alleged infiltration of Iranian agents.
US artillery fired flares before dawn Tuesday over Baqubah, capital of Diyala province bordering Iran, in a failed bid to identify a group of armed men seen approching a US-held building in the town.
A few hours later, a quick reaction force of mechanised infantry was dispatched from a base outside Baqubah after mortar rounds exploded nearby. The source of the firing remains unknown.
In another part of the town, a platoon of infantry heard gunfire and saw three armed men running away down an alley. The soldiers gave chase but the men disappeared before they could be identified.
Officers with the US Fourth Infantry Division (4ID) say they are struggling to identify possible hostile forces following the collapse of the Iraqi regime.
"It could be anybody," said Lieutenant Colonel John Miller, commander of the 2-8 Infantry Battalion.
The chief suspect is a Shiite paramilitary unit known as the Badr Brigade, which is believed to be trying to extend its influence in the area following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad earlier this month.
US officials have accused Iran of sending agents into Iraq to undermine the US presence here, possibly with the Badr Brigade, a several thousand-strong militia linked to the Iran-based Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SARII), the largest Iraqi Shiite group opposing Saddam.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi last week angrily denied accusations that Tehran was using the Badr Brigade as a proxy force, asserting that the militia was an "Iraqi movement and does not include any Iranian."
For US troops on the ground here, the situation is confusing. All they know is that someone has been shooting at them and they want to shoot back.
Miller said intelligence was thin but US troops were under orders to engage any armed forces they encountered.
"The Badr guys are not a hostile force but if they do any hostile acts they will be engaged," he said.
"If we confirm that Badr is actually shooting at us I believe that we would try to identify all the Badr elements."
The United States last week warned Iran against "any outside interference" in Iraq amid concerns that Tehran may have sent agents there, perhaps to push its brand of Islamic government.
"We have well-known channels of communication with Iran and we have made clear to Iran that we would oppose any outside interference in Iraq's road to democracy," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
"Infiltration of agents to destabilize the Shia population would clearly fall into that category," Fleischer said, amid media reports that Tehran had dispatched agents to shore up its interests in Iraq.
The United States severed formal diplomatic ties with Iran after the 1979 revolution and the bitter embassy hostage crisis. US President George W. Bush has lumped Iran in with Iraq and North Korea in an "axis of evil."
US officials have said that Tehran may be seeking to promote an Iranian model of government or at least building bases of support for Iran.
But residents of Baqubah told AFP on Monday they "hate" Badr and hoped US forces would being security after a period of anarchy.
A local Shiite cleric, Sheikh Yaseen Mohammed, said people here did not want to follow Iran's model of Islamic government, but nor did they want to be ruled by Americans.
"We want the Americans here for security but not for occupation," he said.
Citation: Stephen Coates. "US Troops Fighting Shadows Near Iraq-Iran Border," Agence France-Presse, 29 April 2003.
Original URL: http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news_en.pl?l=en&y=2003&m=04&d=30&a=5