Courtesy of The Fourth Rail:

IRGC’s Qods Force is the prime suspect in the Karbala attack which killed 5 soldiers; we broke story on Friday, January 26

On Friday, we reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Qods Force was very likely behind the attack on the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, which resulted in the kidnapping and execution of four U.S. soldiers. Five soldiers total were killed in the operation, and three others wounded. We noted, based on multiple sources in the military and intelligence community, that the attack was far too sophisticated for Shia militias (particularly the Mahdi Army) and it was unlikely al-Qaeda in Iraq carried out the operation. We also noted the attack and kidnapping may have been revenge for the Baghdad and Irbil raids on Iranian diplomatic missions. Today, CNN is reporting the Pentagon is seriously investigating Iran’s involvement in the attack, and the Irbil raid was likely a motive for the Qods Force operation:

The Pentagon is investigating whether a recent attack on a military compound in Karbala was carried out by Iranians or Iranian-trained operatives, two officials from separate U.S. government agencies said.

“People are looking at it seriously,” one of the officials said. That official added the Iranian connection was a leading theory in the investigation into the January 20 attack that killed five soldiers. The second official said: “We believe it’s possible the executors of the attack were Iranian or Iranian-trained.”

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