Baghdad/Tehran, Jan 11 (DPA) US forces accompanied by military helicopters Thursday stormed the Iranian consulate in the Kurdish city of Erbil in Iraq, arresting five Iranian employees, a Kurdish security source said.In addition to the arrests, US troops confiscated documents and computers, while Kurdish security authorities cordoned off all roads leading to the building.In Tehran, the Iranian leadership responded by summoning diplomats representing US interests in order to protest.Local Kurdish officials in northern Iraq refused to comment on the incident.Arbil is located 350 km north of Baghdad in Kurdistan province, the only region officially recognised as a federal entity.The raid came a day after President George W. Bush said the US would confront Iran and Syria, accusing them of fomenting violence in Iraq by allowing insurgents into the country and supporting attacks on American troops.The political and religious representatives of Iraq's Sunni Muslim population accuse the Iranian leadership of supporting Shia militias and even sending its own fighters to take part in death squads.In Tehran, Iran summoned the ambassadors of Iraq and Switzerland (which represents US interests in Iran) over the consulate raid, Iran's state television network IRIB reported.The Iranian Foreign Ministry demanded explanations from the two ambassadors on the raid and stressed that the consulate was established in the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region at the explicit wishes of the Iraqi government and Iraqi Kurdish officials.Meanwhile, a source close to the Kurdistani government said the administration was unaware of the US plans to raid the Iranian consulate and did not know the purpose of the operation.After raiding the consulate, the US forces headed for Eikawa district, which hosts foreign companies and countries' representatives. Security forces of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP) reportedly surrounded three US military vehicles to prevent them from further action.Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini condemned the raid and called it contrary to diplomatic norms.
(c) Indo-Asian News Service
