U.S. says expects militia leaders to return to Iraq

By Andrew Gray

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. military commander said on Monday he expected Shi'ite militia leaders who fled to Iran for training and equipment to return to Iraq soon to try to foment instability.

But U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said those leaders would find it more difficult to be successful due to security improvements in their former strongholds.

The U.S. military has accused Iran of arming, training and funding extremist Shi'ite groups in Iraq. Iran denies it is fomenting violence in Iraq and says instability there is caused by the presence of U.S. troops.

The leaders of so-called special groups of militia fighters fled after assaults on their strongholds, such as Sadr City in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, by U.S. and Iraqi forces in recent months, Austin said.

"We think they went into ... Iran for additional training and to be resourced. And we expect that those leaders will try to come back at some point in time in the future," Austin told reporters at the Pentagon by videolink from Iraq.

"Even though we anticipate that some of these leaders will attempt to return soon, we know that they will be returning to a much less permissive environment," he said.

Violence in Iraq has subsided to four-year lows, officials say, thanks to factors including new tactics by U.S. troops, a cease-fire by radical Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr and a decision by Sunni former insurgents to fight al Qaeda militants.

Austin said Shi'ite extremist groups would have a much harder time winning popular support if their leaders returned.