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Iran "paid insurgents 300 dollars a month to kill soldiers" -- report

LONDON, May 25 (KUNA) -- Iran has secretly paid Iraqi insurgents hundreds of thousands of US dollars to kill British soldiers, according to a leaked British Government document here Sunday.
The document, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, contained a confidential field report written by a British officer who served in Basra during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict.
The report, which has never been made public, showed that the full level of Irans involvement in the insurgency for the first time, the publication said.
The document stated that Jaish al-Mahdi, one of the most violent insurgent groups operating in Basra, used money from Iran to recruit and pay young unemployed men up to 300 dollars a month to carry out attacks against the British.
The findings have been passed to the highest level of the British military, the paper said.
The leak comes at a time of rising tensions between Iran and the international community, as Tehran continues to stonewall UN inquiries into allegations that it has carried out research to develop a nuclear weapon.
In addition, the paper said the report details the activities of the British troops under the command of Major Christopher Job between November 2006 to and March 2007.
In the report, Major Job disclosed that in the course of five months his base was attacked 350 times. (end) he.rk KUNA 251218 May 08NNNN