BAGHDAD, July 2 (UPI) -- A special operations officer from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon has been linked to a January attack that killed five Americans in Iraq, CNN said.
Ali Mussa Daqduq -- an explosives expert who U.S. officials say played a key role in the Jan. 20 attack in Karbala -- was captured in March in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, CNN reported. U.S. intelligence officials told CNN Daqduq was helping train and lead Shiite militias fighting coalition troops.
Daqduq feigned deafness when he was caught, and it took weeks to establish his identity, officials told CNN. However, once his identity was known, he began to talk.
Intelligence officials said Daqduq is an expert on roadside bombs. U.S. officials told CNN he and Iraqi militia commanders have admitted working with an Iranian special operations unit that U.S. commanders have accused of supplying Iraqi militants with weapons and training.
Hezbollah fought Israeli troops last summer during the war in southern Lebanon.
