BAGHDAD, April 26: The US military charged a senior official on Thursday with aiding the enemy and fraternising with the daughter of an inmate in a US-run prison camp, in the latest scandal to hit the military in Iraq.

And in Washington, Gen David Petraeus, head of the US-led forces in Iraq, accused Iran's secretive Quds Force of helping an armed network that killed five US soldiers in January in Karbala.

The US military accused Lt-Col William Steele, who commanded Camp Cropper on the outskirts of Baghdad, of aiding the `enemy by providing an unmonitored cellular phone to detainees’. He was also accused of having unauthorised possession of classified information, failing to obey an order and maintaining an `improper relationship’ with an Iraqi interpreter.

The charges cover a period of 17 months between Oct 1, 2005, and Feb 22 this year.

Col Steele has been detained in Kuwait and will face a military hearing to decide whether he should face charges, a military spokeswoman said in Baghdad.“He has been detained and is now in Kuwait. His current status is that he is in confinement and waiting for his Article 32 hearing,” she said.

Camp Cropper houses some ‘high-value’ detainees, and before his execution for crimes against humanity on Dec 30, president Saddam Hussein received medical treatment there.

Col Steele's arrest is the latest scandal to hit the US military detention system since the 2003 invasion.Gen Petraeus acknowledged in Washington that a complex and `very tough’ situation existed in Iraq, but also accused Iran's Quds Force of helping an Iraqi network to murder five US soldiers in Karbala.

On Jan 20, gunmen disguised in US military-style uniforms breezed past checks and attacked a provincial security building during a visit by American troops to their Iraqi counterparts.

One US soldier died in the assault and four were captured. Their bodies were later found by Iraqi police.

The assault came nine days after US forces seized five Iranians from the northern city of Arbil. They are still being detained.

In March, the military announced the arrest of two brothers, Qais and Laith Khazali, in connection with the murders of five soldiers. Gen Petraeus now says that the Khazalis were supported by Iran's Quds Force.

“There is no question that the Al-Khazali network was connected to the Iranian Quds Force -- received money, training, arms, ammunition, and at some points in time even advice and assistance,” he told reporters.

Gen Petraeus said there was no concrete evidence that Iranians were directly involved in the raid, however.—AFP