Iraqi forces search for Qods Force agents

SNIPPET: "Iraqi officials in Al Kut are seeking four suspected Iranian Qods Force operatives behind attacks on security forces.

Members of the Iraqi security forces put up wanted posters with photos of the Iranian operates on the streets in an effort to detain the men.

The Qods Force agents are wanted for "armed operations against Iraqi security personnel and civilians," an Iraqi security official told Voices of Iraq. "The security authorities in Kut appealed to local residents to report these dangerous persons who are wanted on charges of involvement in terrorist operations in Iraq."

The campaign was announced the same day that Iraqi security forces detained four Special Groups operatives in Al Kut and three members of the Mahdi Army offshoot Promise Day Brigade in Baghdad.

Al Kut has been a major hub for Qods Force operations in central Iraq. The city was one of five that served as "distribution centers" for Iranian-supplied weapons, according to the US military.

Qods Force backed Shia militias, including the Asaib al Haq, or the League of the Righteous, the Mahdi Army, and the Promise Day Brigade have cells in Al Kut. In April, the US military broke up a Promise Day Brigade cell in Al Kut.

Iraqi security forces have stepped up operations against Qods Force and their Shia-backed militia over the past month. In October, Iraqi forces detained a Qods Force operative in Basrah and a Hezbollah Brigades leader in Baghdad's Sadr City..

As the Iraqi security forces continue to search for Qods Force agents, the US is releasing captive Qods Force officers and members of the Asaib al Haq.

More than 100 members of the League of the Righteous have been released since last week. According to a spokesman for the group, talks are underway with the US to release Qais Qazali, the former leader of the League of the Righteous who is currently in US custody. The US is planning to release all members of the group, even though the group is known to still hold a British hostage.

The US has also released several senior Qods Force officers, including Mahmud Farhadi, the leader of the Zafr Command, one of three units subordinate to the Qods Force's Ramazan Corps. Farhadi was among five Iranians turned over to the Iraqi government and then subsequently turned over to the Iranians in July."

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/11/iraqi_forces_search.php#ixzz0WA0SX47a

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.cjtf7.army.mil/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28577&Itemid=131

Press Release A091106x-01
November 6, 2009

Iraqi Security Forces arrest five suspected terrorists

BAGHDAD – Iraqi Security Forces arrested five suspected terrorists today during two joint security operations in Baghdad and Sharqat.

In northeast Baghdad, the 44th Iraqi Army, with U.S. advisors, searched two buildings in search of a Promise Day Brigade terrorist group leader who allegedly coordinates attacks against security forces operating in Iraq.

Based on preliminary questioning conducted at the scene, three individuals are suspected of being Promise Day Brigade associates. The 44th Iraqi Army arrested the suspects without incident.

During a separate security operation near Sharqat, located approximately 100 km northwest of Kirkuk, Iraqi Police and U.S. advisors searched two buildings for a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq member who has ties to senior leaders within the terrorist group.

Based on incriminating evidence found at the scene, a warranted suspect and his criminal accomplice were arrested without incident.

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