Hezbollah training Iraqis in Tehran - US

Baghdad: Iraqi Shiite extremists are being trained by members of Hezbollah in camps near Tehran, a US military spokesman said yesterday.

Iraqis are receiving the training at camps operated by the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps that has been accused of training and funnelling weapons to Shiite extremists in Iraq.

The group is also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force, or IRGC-QF.

"We have multiple detainees who state Lebanese Hezbollah are providing training to Iraqis in Iranian IRGC-QF training camps near Tehran," Air Force Col. Donald Bacon, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said.

'Massacre of people'

Meanwhile, Iran dismissed any prospect of new talks with the United States on Iraq, accusing US-led forces of a "massacre" of the Iraqi people.

The two foes last year held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze of almost three decades, but Iraqi officials have expressed frustration that a fourth round has failed to get off the ground.

"Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by the occupying forces," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hussaini told a news conference.

"Concerning this situation, talks with America will have no results and will be meaningless."

US forces have been fighting daily battles with militiamen loyal to Moqtada Al Sadr in Baghdad.