Four Iran-backed militia fighters killed in Baghdad drone strike

Baghdad — A drone strike killed four members of an Iran-aligned Iraqi militia and wounded six in Baghdad on Thursday, police and security sources said, in an attack blamed by Iraqi authorities on the US-led international coalition.

Police sources and eyewitnesses said the drone had fired at least two rockets at a building in eastern Baghdad used by the Iraqi militia group al-Nujaba’a.

“The Iraqi armed forces hold the international coalition forces responsible for this unjustified attack on an Iraqi security entity”, said a statement which described the militia group as an Iraqi force operating with the authorisation of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

The US has 900 troops deployed in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State militants.

Al-Sudani has limited control over some Iran-backed factions, whose support he needed to win power a year ago and who now form a powerful bloc in his governing coalition.

Police and militia sources said Thursday’s rockets had targeted a vehicle inside the Nujaba’a headquarters and that the dead included a local group commander and one of his aides. Health sources confirmed the death toll.

Video footage published by pro-militia websites showed a destroyed vehicle in flames. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.

Iraqi security sources said they had no further detail on who might have carried out the strike pending a government investigation.

Iraqi militia commanders accused the US of carrying out the attack and threatened to retaliate.

“We will retaliate and make the Americans regret carrying out this aggression,” said Abu Aqeel al-Moussawi, a local Iraqi militia commander.

There was no immediate comment from Washington.

The US military has already come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones.

Iran-aligned groups in Iraq and Syria oppose Israel’s campaign in Gaza and hold the US partly responsible.

Last month, the US carried out retaliatory air strikes in Iraq after a drone attack by Iran-aligned militants that left one US service member in critical condition and wounded two others.

Reuters