Troops Raid Iranian Offices in Iraqi City

US soldiers raided Iranian government offices in the Iraqi city of Irbil today, hours after George Bush pledged to "seek out and destroy" Iran's networks in Iraq.

The troops stormed the building at around 3am, arresting six Iranians and confiscating computers and documents, two senior local Kurdish officials said.

Irbil, 220 miles from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, is in the Kurdish-controlled north of the country.

Tehran responded to the raid by summoning the ambassadors of Iraq and Switzerland. The latter represents US interests in Iran, where there is no US embassy.

A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said the raid was intended to "create tension" between Iraq and its neighbours, adding that the raided office was an official diplomatic mission.

The raid came as the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, reiterated Mr Bush's warning to Iran to end its destabilising interference in Iraq.

"The president made very clear last night that we know that Iran is engaged in activities that are endangering our troops, activities that are destabilising the young Iraqi government, and that we're going to pursue those who may be involved in those activities," she told Fox News.

The US military issued a statement saying it had taken six people into custody in the Irbil region, but made no mention of a raid on Iranian offices.

However, a senior US military official at the Pentagon, speaking anonymously, told the Associated Press that the office targeted was not a consulate and did not have diplomatic status.

General Peter Pace, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said Iran appeared to be responsible for arming insurgents in Iraq.

"I think it's instructive that in the last couple of weeks two of those raids that we conducted to go after these folks that are providing these kinds of weapons, two of those raids had policed up Iranians," he said.

"So it is clear that the Iranians are complicit in providing weapons. And it's also clear that we will do all we need to do to defend our troops in Iraq by going after the entire network, regardless of where those people come from."

A resident living near the scene of the raid said soldiers used stun bombs, bringing down an Iranian flag on the roof of the two-storey building. As the operation went on, two helicopters flew overhead, the resident added.

Later, a number of Kurdish guerrillas could be seen around the building, preventing people from getting close and not allowing cameramen to take pictures.

The raid came shortly after Mr Bush rejected the Iraq Study Group's recommendation to open diplomatic channels to Iran and Syria in an effort to end the growing violence in Iraq.

In his speech last night, he accused both of "allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq".

"We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria," he said. "And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."