6 killed in airstrike north of Baghdad targeting convoy carrying Shia militia members – report

 

3 Jan, 2020 23:19 / Updated 33 minutes ago

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FILE PHOTO: A member of the Shi'ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) holds up a victory sign during an operation against Islamic State militants in Tal Afar, Iraq. ©  Reuters / Thaier Al-Sudani 

A convoy carrying members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, was hit by an airstrike while traveling in Baghdad, media reports say. The PMF said that medics were in the cars.

The three-car convoy was struck in the northern outskirts of the Iraqi capital in the district of al-Taji, according to an Iraqi military source cited by Reuters. Six militiamen were reported killed in the attack, with three others critically injured. It remains unclear who carried out the strike.

Baxtiyar Goran

✔@BaxtiyarGoran

Reports of an airstrike targeted a vehicle carrying important Iraqi (Hashd al-Shaabi) figures near Taji northern Baghdad.#Iraq

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4:02 AM - Jan 4, 2020

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An unconfirmed photo of the aftermath of the attack emerged on social media, showing three burning vehicles, two of them overturned.

Babak Taghvaee@BabakTaghvaee

Replying to @BabakTaghvaee

#BREAKING: #PMU (Hashd al-Shaabi) confirms that six members of one of its Brigades are killed in the #USAF drone strike in #Taji, North of #Baghdad. They don't say whether Khazali or al-Zaydi are among them or not. #PMU claims that was a medical convoy!

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5:24 AM - Jan 4, 2020

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The six killed in the strike have yet to be named, but early reports suggesting they hit two paramilitary commanders – Shibl al-Zaydi, secretary general of the Kataib al-Imam militia, as well as Qais al-Khazali, leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq – were refuted by the PMF in a statement. Instead of senior leaders, the convoy contained medics, the group said.

“Initial sources confirm that the strike targeted a convoy of Popular Mobilisation Forces medics near Taji stadium in Baghdad,” said the statement, cited by Reuters.

The bombing comes on the heels of a US air raid near the Baghdad International Airport late on Thursday night, which killed Iran’s powerful Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and several top officials in the PMF. Washington argued the strike was “aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans,” while Tehran slammed the move as an act of “international terrorism” and threatened “crushing revenge.”

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Though US President Donald Trump insisted the decision was taken “to stop a war,” stressing that he didn’t seek “regime change” in Tehran, that interpretation was clearly not shared by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who warned “revenge awaits the criminals who have stained their hands in [Soleimani’s] blood.”