[Mb-civic] FW: 20 Terrorist training camps in Iran Uncovered

[Golsorkhi]

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From: Samii Shahla <shahla at thesamiis.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 17:30:48 -0500
Subject: 20 Terrorist training camps in Iran Uncovered

Global Politician
3/01/06

20 Terrorist training camps in Iran Uncovered

By Farhad Razi

A list of 20 terrorist camps and centers run by Iran¹s Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps (IRGC) has recently been obtained from a former IRGC officer.
The names and details of the training centers were provided by a defector
from the IRGC, who has recently left Iran and now lives in hiding in a
neighbouring country. We agreed to keep his identity secret for obvious
security reasons. The former IRGC officer said the camps and the training
centers were under the control of the IRGC¹s elite Qods Force, the
extra-territorial arm of the Revolutionary Guards.

³The Qods Force has an extensive network that uses the facilities of Iranian
embassies or cultural and economic missions or a number of religious
institutions such as the Islamic Communications and Culture Organisation to
recruit radical Islamists in Muslim countries or among the Muslims living in
the West. After going through preliminary training and security checks in
those countries, the recruits are then sent to Iran via third countries and
end up in one of the Qods Force training camps², the officer said.

The Imam Ali Garrison has been a long-time training ground for foreign
terrorist operatives. Presently, some 50 Islamists from neighbouring Arab
countries are receiving training there in five groups of 10, the officer
said.

³Iraq followed by the Palestinian territories have become the focal point of
the Qods Force¹s activities. Many of the foreign recruits in these camps now
come from these two areas, but others come from a wide range of countries,
including the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, North Africa and south-east
Asia², he said. ³In most camps, the Sunnis outnumber the Shiites².

³The scale and breadth of Qods Force operations in Iraq are far beyond what
we did even during the war with Saddam², the officer said, referring to the
IRGC¹s extensive activities in Iraq during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in
the 1980s. ³Vast areas of Iraq are under the virtual control of the Qods
Force through its Iraqi surrogates. It uses a vast array of charities,
companies and other fronts to conduct its activities across Iraq².

³We would send our officers into Iraq to operate for months under the cover
of a construction company², he said. ³Kawthar Company operated in Najaf last
year to carry out construction work in the area around Imam Ali Shrine, but
it was in fact a front company for the Qods Force. Qods officers, disguised
as company employees, established contacts with Iraqi operatives and
organised underground cells in southern Iraq².

The officer said Qods Force officers also used the Iranian Red Crescent and
the state-run television and radio corporation as fronts for their
operations in Iraq.

A special branch inside Iran¹s Foreign Ministry is responsible for assisting
the Qods Force in bringing in foreign recruits. The recruits first travel to
third countries where they are given new passports by Iranian agents to
facilitate their entry into Iran. Upon finishing their training course, the
new agents leave Iran for third countries from where they use their genuine
passports to return to their countries of origin or where missions are
planned. 

The list of the bases used for training terrorists identified are as
follows:

1) Imam Ali Training Garrison, Tajrish Square, Tehran,
2) Bahonar Garrison, Chalous Street, close to the dam of Karaj,
3) Qom¹s Ali-Abad Garrison, Tehran-Qom highway,
4) Mostafa Khomeini Garrison, Eshrat-Abad district, Tehran,
5) Crate Camp Garrison, 40 kilometres from the Ahwaz-Mahshar highway,
6) Fateh Qani-Hosseini Garrison, between Tehran and Qom
7) Qayour Asli Garrison, 30 kilometres from Ahwaz-Khorramshahr highway,
8) Abouzar Garrison, Qaleh-Shahin district, Ahwaz, Khuzestan province
9) Hezbollah Garrison, Varamin, east of Tehran
10) Eezeh Training Garrison
11) Amir-ol-Momenin Garrison, Ban-Roushan, Ilam province
12) Kothar Training Garrison, Dezful Street, Shoushtar, Khuzestan province
13) Imam Sadeq Garrison, Qom
14) Lavizan Training Center, north-east Tehran
15) Abyek Training Center, west of Tehran
16) Dervish Training Center, 18 kilometres from the Ahwaz-Mahshar highway,
17) Qazanchi Training Center, Ravansar-Kermanshah-Kamyaran tri-junction,
18) Beit-ol-Moqaddas University, Qom
19) Navab Safavi School, Ahwaz
20) Nahavand Training Center, 45 kilometres from Nahavand, western Iran

Farhad Razi is a specialist on Islamic radicalism and terrorism. He also
writes for Iran Focus.

URL: http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=1639&cid=2&sid=4


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