By Mohammed Abbas
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday it hadevidence Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq wereincreasingly using secret weapons stores to attack U.S. andIraqi forces.
The accusation comes days after Tehran postponed talks withthe United States on improving security in Iraq for "technicalreasons", a move that prompted rebukes from U.S. officials.
"In just the past week, Iraqi and coalition forces captured212 weapons caches across Iraq, two of those inside Baghdad,(which have) growing links to Iranian-backed special groups,"military spokesman Real Admiral Gregory Smith told reporters.
The military uses the term "special groups" to describerogue elements in the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite clericMoqtada al-Sadr. It says these militants get weapons, fundingand training from neighbouring Iran.
Smith was speaking at a news conference in which he laudedrecent security gains in Iraq, adding that on some days attackshad dropped to below 40 a day, the lowest level since 2004.
Highlighting the fragility of the gains, a female suicidebomber killed at least three people in central Baghdad, policesaid. The U.S. military said only the bomber was killed.
Two U.S. soldiers were also killed by insurgents in Diyalaprovince northeast of Baghdad, the military said.
Washington, at loggerheads with Shi'ite Iran over itsnuclear plans, accuses Tehran of destabilising Iraq by armingShi'ite groups. Iran denies the accusations and blames theU.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 for the violence.
Smith said there was no evidence of increased armsshipments to Iraq from Iran, but added that Iranian-backedgroups were increasingly using secret stores of weapons tolaunch attacks.
"What we're seeing is an increase in the use of weapons byIranian-backed special groups," he said, adding the number ofweapons caches found in January was the largest in a year.
BITTER ENEMIES
The U.S.-Iranian security talks are one of the few forumsin which officials from the two bitter foes have directcontact. Diplomatic ties have been frozen for almost threedecades.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said technical reasons were behindthe delay in talks between Iranian and U.S. officials inBaghdad, but did not elaborate. Tehran on Thursday postponedwhat would have been a fourth round of discussions.
David Satterfield, the U.S. State Department's Iraqcoordinator, said on Friday Iran was "intent on continuing topromote violence within Iraq".
Violence has fallen 60 percent across Iraq since 30,000additional U.S. troops became fully deployed in June.
Vital to better security has been a decision by Sunni Arabtribal leaders to turn against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, andform groups to drive them out.
The U.S.-backed groups, called concerned local citizens(CLCs) by the military, have 80,000 men across Iraq. They mancheckpoints and provide intelligence on militant hideouts.
But cracks have appeared in ties with U.S. and Iraqiforces.
One CLC group said it was suspending its activities afterthree members were killed in an incident near the town of Jurfal-Sukr, south of Baghdad on Friday.
The unit blamed U.S. soldiers for the deaths. The U.S.military said attack helicopters had responded with rocketsafter security forces came under small-arms fire.
Smith said any incidents were investigated.
"Coalition forces are working with CLCs to bring aboutsecurity. They are certainly not targeting CLCs," he said.
In the southern city of Basra, a CBS News journalistcontinued to be held by kidnappers after being captured a weekago. Efforts to free the Briton, who has not been named, werebeing held up over talks about how he should be released,negotiators said.
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden; editing by AndrewRoche)
