US ships dozens of missiles to Iraqi forces

The United States has delivered dozens of Hellfire air-to-ground missiles to Iraq in recent weeks and plans shipments of drones next year, U.S. officials said Thursday. The same day, a camp of Iranian dissidents in western Baghdad was hit by rockets.

Officials in Washington and Baghdad confirmed 75 Hellfires arrived in Iraq last week, and shipments of Scan Eagle drones will come next year amid a surge in violence in Iraq.

"The recent delivery of Hellfire missiles and an upcoming delivery of Scan Eagles are standard (foreign military sales) cases that we have with Iraq to strengthen their capabilities to combat this threat," a State Department official said.

Iraq is enduring its deadliest violence in years, reviving memories of the sectarian bloodshed between Sunni and Shia Muslims that killed tens of thousands of people between 2006 and 2007.

The United Nations estimates that more than 8,000 people have been killed in attacks in Iraq this year alone.

Maliki pressed senior U.S. officials during a visit to Washington last month to provide Iraqi forces with additional equipment to conduct operations against militants camped in remote areas.

Washington has been adamant that it will not send troops back to Iraq, but will continue to help train Iraqi forces. The last U.S. troops left Iraq at the end of 2011 after eight years of war.

The news of the shipments comes a day after at least 37 people died in Christmas Day bomb attacks in Baghdad and as Al-Qaeda-linked fighters have stepped up attacks on supporters of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.

The Hellfire missiles were apparently being used by four Iraqi King Air propeller planes as part of a large-scale military operation in the western desert near the Syrian border, where an intelligence official said four of the armed group's camps were destroyed.

Iranian dissidents said at least two people died and several more were seriously wounded in a bombardment Thursday in Iraq's capital. An Iraqi security official said two were wounded and none died.

A Shia armed group, the al-Mukhtar army, claimed responsibility for the attack on "Camp Liberty," which has repeatedly been targeted by mortar and rocket attacks in recent months.

The dissidents, who have called for the overthrow of Iran's clerical leaders and fought on Iraq's side during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, are no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shia-led government that came to power after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

"We've asked (the government) to expel them from the country many times, but they are still here," said Wathiq al-Batat, commander of the al-Mukhtar Army.

Al-Batat accused the group of communicating with Sunni and Shia politicians linked to Al-Qaeda.

A spokesman for the Iranian dissident group accused Maliki's government of staging the attack in an attempt to win support from Iran's government ahead of elections next year, although Baghdad has repeatedly denied involvement in attacks on the camp.

Wire services