Iran-linked groups focus of Baghdad kidnapping probe: U.S. sources

Iran-linked groups focus of Baghdad kidnapping probe: U.S. sources

U.S. intelligence agencies investigating the kidnapping of three Americans in Baghdad, Iraq last week are focusing their probe on three groups closely affiliated with the Iranian regime, U.S. government sources said on Thursday.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kata’ib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization are the principle focus of the investigation into the armed kidnapping of the three Americans in the Dora neighborhood, south of Baghdad, the sources said.

The three men are employed by a still-unidentified small company doing work for General Dynamics under a larger contract with the U.S. Army.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kata’ib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization are Shi’ite militia groups that are part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Front, a group closely tied to Iran, according to the Counter Terrorism Project, a New York-based advocacy group.