October 07, 2008	Tuesday	Shawwal 7, 1429

MADRID, Oct 6: A confidential military report made public on Monday charges Iran offered protection to an Afghan leader who claimed responsibility for an August ambush that killed 10 French soldiers.

The report by Spain’s CIFAS military intelligence agency, which was obtained by Cadena Ser radio and posted on the station’s website, said Gulbuddin Hekmatyar enjoyed “total freedom” when he lived at a Tehran hotel in 2005 — with his security provided by the Iranian government.

He met daily with many unidentified individuals while in Tehran, added the report which was dated August 9, 2005.

Former Afghan prime minister Hekmatyar is considered one of the country’s most radical resistance leaders who is already known to have sought refuge in Iran between 1996 and 2002.

Cadena Ser did not say how it obtained the report, which apparently was marked confidential and bore the seal of Spain’s defence ministry.

The radio station also said the intelligence agency suspects Tehran supplied an allied terrorist group with US-made Stinger missile launchers.

Another report claims Iranian agents in April 2005 bought “several Stinger missile systems” from an Afghan arms dealer, Cadena Ser said. “Iran buys weapons to then transfer them to a third party, probably Iranian terrorist groups,” it said.—AFP