US forces raid Iranian consulate in Iraq - Iran agency

ARBIL, Iraq, Jan 11 (Reuters) US forces raided the Iranian consulate office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil today and arrested five employees, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said.

There was no immediate comment by the US military on the raid which came hours after President George W Bush vowed in a speech to interrupt what he called the ''flow of support'' from Iran and Syria for insurgent attacks on US forces in Iraq.

The raid was the second such operation in the past month against Iranian interests in Iraq by US forces.

''Around 5.00 a m, after disarming the guards they (US troops) broke into the office, without giving any explanation and arrested five employees,'' the official IRNA news agency reported, adding that documents and computers were seized.

It said Iran had sent a protest letter to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.

Earlier Iraqiya state television reported the raid on the building in central Arbil and a Kurdish station said Kurdish security forces had taken over the building after the Americans left the area.

US officials have repeatedly accused non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran of interfering in Iraq, where the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority is now in power.

In December, US forces in Baghdad arrested a number of Iranians they said were suspected of planning attacks on Iraqi security forces, including diplomats who were later turned over to Iraqi authorities.

A US official said that the arrests in December validated US assertions about ''Iranian meddling'' in Iraq.

REUTERS SB VV1535