URGENT: U.S. Commander charges Iran with killing his soldiers in Iraq

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Commander of the U.S. Forces in Iraq , Admiral Mike Mullen, has charged Iran with involvement in killing his soldiers, saying that any agreement with Iraq must treat the problem of targeting his troops in the country.   “ Iran is directly supporting extremist Shiite groups to kill our troops,” Admiral Mullen told al-Sharq al-Awsat Newspaper on Saturday, pointing out that he sees no reason to believe that “they would stop that at a time when our troops are decreasing in Iraq .”   Admiral Mullen said that “the weapons, sent by Iran to a number of Iraqi militias have become more advanced and able to target the American forces.”   “There is no doubt that they are sending weapons of high technical development to kill our soldiers,” he said, adding that “criminal evidence existed to prove that and the problem must be settled in any future agreement.”   The U.S. Commander said “it is clear that it ( Iran ) had sent arms and ammunition for extremist groups, in order to claim that it had helped in forcing the American forces out of the Region.”   The Security Agreement, signed between Baghdad and Washington in 2008 had confirmed that the American troops must leave Iraq by the end of December this year.   SKH (IT)