BAGHDAD, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S.-led forces captured five suspected Special Groups members, which believed to be Iran's militia-proxies who fight Iraqi and coalition forces in the war-torn country, the U.S. military said on Friday.

    Based on intelligence reports, U.S. troops conducted an operation in Baghdad's eastern part of Rusafa on Thursday and detained a suspected senior Special Groups leader and four of his associates, a military statement said.

    The suspected leader "believed to be involved in smuggling Iranian-supplied lethal aid into Iraq, and a key facilitator in planning and conducting attacks on Iraqi and coalition forces," the statement said.

    The U.S. military said that the Special Groups are receiving "funding, training, weapons and even direction from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force (IRGC-QF)."

    The IRGC-QF attempts to destabilize the government of Iraq, through Iran's "militia-proxies" inside Iraq, it added.

    Washington has long accused Iran of fanning violence in Iraq by giving sophisticated bomb-making technology, money and training to militant Shiite groups, some of which have links with Iraq's Shiite-led government.

    However, Tehran denies the accusations and blames American soldiers for the violence and for inflaming tensions between Shiites and once-dominant Sunni Arabs.