CNN:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces detained six Iranian officials for questioning in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, seat of the Kurdish regional government, an American official said Thursday.
But the official disputes accounts from Iran that the troops broke open a consulate gate and conducted a raid.
"No shots were fired. No altercation ensued," the U.S. official. "It was a knock on the door and 'Please come out.' "
BBC:
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.
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.
The Washington Post:
Although U.S. officials have not confirmed that an Iranian diplomatic building was involved in today's raid, a man who lives next to the consulate, Sardar Hassan Mohammed, 34, said he saw what he believed to be U.S. forces surrounding the building with their vehicles before entering it. Mohammed said at least five people were taken.
An official with the Kurdish Democratic Party, who declined to give his name, said the U.S. troops confiscated belongings inside the consulate in addition to arresting people inside.
Meanwhile, Kurdish officials are expressing condemnation of the raid as well:
In a strongly-worded statement from one of Washington's closest allies in Iraq, the offices of the Kurdish prime minister and Kurdish president expressed their "disturbance and condemnation" over the predawn operation and urged the U.S. military to release employees arrested during the raid.
The AP has yet another version:
The U.S. military said it had taken six people into custody in the Irbil region but made no mention of a raid on the Iranian government office.
The forces entered the building about 3 a.m., detaining the Iranians and confiscating computers and documents, two senior local Kurdish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Irbil is a city in the Kurdish-controlled northern part of Iraq, 220 miles from Baghdad.
A resident living near the building said the troops used stun bombs and brought down an Iranian flag from the roof. As the operation went on, two helicopters flew overhead, the resident said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
At the Pentagon, a senior U.S. military official said the building was not a consulate and did not have any diplomatic status. The six Iranians were taken in a "cordon-and-knock" operation, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Whatever actually happened, it's clear that the US military has managed to piss off several people with this raid and these arrests while intentionally racheting up tensions with the Iranian government. If those arrested were diplomats in an official consulate, Washington will definitely have to answer for that violation of international law. Beyond that, it must also provide actual proof that those detained played some part in what they are being accused of and it will have to come in a form that doesn't involve this kind of circular logic:
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. military would continue to target networks of individuals, regardless of their nationality, that are providing weapons designed to kill American troops in Iraq.
"I think it's instructive that in the last couple of weeks two of those raids that we conducted to go after these folks that are providing these kinds of weapons - two of those raids had policed up Iranians. So it is clear that the Iranians are complicit in providing weapons," he said.
Update: ABC News reports on a second secret raid.
In the second raid, staged later in the day, U.S. troops attempted to abduct more people from inside the perimeter of Irbil airport, but were surrounded by Kurdish peshmerga troops.
"This group has come from nowhere," Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told ABC News. "They were unwilling to reveal their identity and entered the airport, which is a very sensitive area, and there was a response by the local forces."
Both sides were heavily armed, and shooting very nearly broke out. "There weren't any casualties, but it was a split second really for a disaster to happen. This has created a great deal of anxiety," said Zebari.
'Delicate Situation'
It is unclear where the U.S. troops came from — even local U.S. officials contacted by the Kurdish authorities had no knowledge of the armed men.
Bizarre.
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