Airstrikes kill 15 Iran-backed troops in Iraq, targeting HQ and leader

Airstrikes in Iraq killed 15 members of Iraq’s umbrella group for Iran-backed Shiite militia on Tuesday, the deadliest attack on the group since the Iran war began.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, part of Iraq’s regular armed forces but which also includes brigades belonging to Iran-backed groups, blamed the strike that killed a commander and 14 other fighters on the United States.

Iraq has been pulled into the war triggered by Israel and the United States striking Iran on February 28, and which has since engulfed much of the region.

PMF leader Falih al-Fayadh was not present when his residence was hit in the northern city of Mosul, which he uses only during visits to the city, according to two security sources.

The dead included the PMF’s operations commander in the province, Saad al-Baiji. Later on Tuesday, a large crowd of angry mourners carried his coffin and portraits of him through the streets of Baghdad.

The statement said US forces had targeted a command headquarters in Anbar while personnel were on duty. The security sources said the strikes there hit during a meeting attended by senior commanders.

On Tuesday, the PMF urged “political forces to take responsibility and confront these repeated American violations.”

Thirty other people were wounded, security and health sources said. The health sources said some of the wounded were in critical condition and the death toll could rise. Reuters filmed ambulances bringing the wounded to hospital in the regional capital Ramadi during the night.

The PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces and includes several groups aligned with Iran.

In autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, a ballistic missile attack killed six peshmergas on Tuesday, with the region accusing Iran of conducting the first such deadly attack since the war began.

Although close with Washington, Iraq’s Kurds have sought to maintain neutrality in the Iran war, after their relations with the Islamic Republic had warmed in recent years.

Neither the United States nor Iran commented on the accusations.

Last week, the Pentagon acknowledged that combat helicopters had carried out strikes against pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq during the current conflict.

Tehran-backed armed groups have launched attacks on US bases in Iraq and the US embassy since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28.

The conflict has spilled beyond Iran’s borders, with Tehran launching strikes on Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting US military installations, while Israel has carried out attacks in Lebanon following cross-border fire by Iran-aligned Hezbollah.