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Iraq

Volume 457: debated on Monday 5 March 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what estimate his Department has made of the number of servicemen (a) killed and (b) injured in Iraq by weapons of Iranian origin since the occupation of Iraq began; (122085)

(2) what estimate his Department has made of the number of British servicemen (a) killed and (b) injured in Iraq by weapons of Iranian origin since the occupation of Iraq began.

The Ministry of Defence does not have an estimate of the number of British servicemen, or other servicemen, who have been killed or injured by weapons of Iranian origin since the beginning of Operation Telic. However, support from within Iran, including by the Quds Force, does go to groups who are attacking coalition forces and fuelling the sectarian violence in Iraq. In our assessment some of the Improvised Explosive Devices that are being used against our troops use technology that originates from Iran.

The Government of Iraq have made it clear that they will not tolerate Iranian activity that undermines the prospects for a secure, stable and democratic Iraq.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on the provision of security services by private contractors in Iraq; and what proportion of his Department’s spending in that country such expenditure represents. (123698)

For the purposes of this response I have taken the phrase ‘security services’ to mean force protection services. The Ministry of Defence has not incurred any expenditure on the provision of such services by private contractors in Iraq.