- US forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern
Iraqi town of Irbil and seized six members of staff.
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- The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT),
taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior
local officials.
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- The US military would only confirm the detention of six
people around Irbil.
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- The raid comes amid high Iran-US tension. The US accuses
Iran of helping to fuel violence in Iraq and seeking nuclear arms. Iran
denies both charges.
- Tehran counters that US military involvement in the Middle
East endangers the whole region.
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- A local TV station said Kurdish security forces had taken
over the building after the Americans had left.
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- Irbil lies in Iraq's Kurdish-controlled north, about
350km (220 miles) from the capital Baghdad. Reports say the Iranian
consulate there was set up last year under an agreement with the Kurdish
regional government to facilitate cross-border visits.
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- Pressure
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- Iranian media said the country's embassy in Baghdad had
sent a letter of protest about the raid to the Iraqi foreign ministry.
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- One Iranian news agency with a correspondent in Irbil
says five US helicopters were used to land troops on the roof of the Iranian
consulate.
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- It reports that a number of vehicles cordoned off the
streets around the building, while US soldiers warned the occupants in
three different languages that they should surrender or be killed.
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- In December, US troops detained a number of Iranians
in Iraq, including two with diplomatic immunity who were later released.
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- Thursday's raid came as US President George
W Bush unveiled his new strategy in Iraq, which included increasing troop
numbers and a commitment to stop Iranian support for "our enemies
in Iraq".
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- BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the
raid could signal a ratcheting-up of pressure on the Iranians, in
line with the rhetorical thrust of his speech.
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- Meanwhile in the Iraqi capital, the five off-duty policemen
were killed in an ambush in the western al-Khadra neighbourhood, hospital
officials said Security sources said another man was killed wounded
in an attack on a money changer in downtown Baghdad.
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- In the restive Anbar province, the US military said that
one of its troops was killed on Tuesday by a roadside bombing.
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- Other violence was reported in Mosul, where gunmen killed
a professor driving home from work, and Samarra where a suicide truck bomber
attacked the mayor's house, killing three people and wounding 33, including
the mayor.
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6251167.stm
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- http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bb
- c.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6251167.stm
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