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BAGHDAD, (UPI) --
An Iraqi daily is claiming that a "staggeringly
high" proportion of foreign jihadis arrested in Iraq
are Iranian.
Iran Focus reported on May 9 that al-Taji, a
newspaper with close connections to the Kurdistan
Democratic Party Massoud Barzani, noted that 1,577
of the 1,972 jihadis arrested since last May were
Iranians.
Al-Taji, quoting a commander of the Iraqi border
guard speaking on condition of anonymity, said that
the other foreign militants arrested included nine
Nigerians, four Indians, 364 Afghanis, two
Pakistanis and one Russian citizen from Dagestan in
the northern Caucasus.
The Bush administration has consistently maintained
that Iran is covertly sending fighters into
neighboring Iraq, a charge that Iran has repeatedly
denied.
Iran Focus is linked to opponents of the Tehran
regime.
In an effort to restore diplomatic relations frayed
in the aftermath of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war,
Iran has appointed an ambassador to Iraq for the
first time since the conflict.
The Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Hasan
Kazemi Qomi presented his credentials to Iraqi
president Jalal Talabani in the capital Baghdad on
Tuesday.
UPI
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