US air strike kills commander of Iran-backed militia in Baghdad
Pentagon says operation taken ‘in self defence’ after faction carried out attacks on US personnel
The US military has killed a high-ranking commander of an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, saying an air strike on the group’s logistics headquarters in central Baghdad was done in “self defence” after the faction conducted attacks on American personnel.
Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said the target, Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, also known as Abu Taqwa, was “actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks against” the US military in the region. Saidi was the deputy head of operations in Baghdad of the Popular Mobilisation Units, a network of Iran-backed Shia militia groups.
Several Iranian-backed militias in the region, including Yemen-based Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hizbollah, have ramped up attacks on Israel and other US allies in the Middle East in recent weeks, leading the Pentagon to escalate its own warnings of imminent retaliatory operations.
The Popular Mobilisation Units confirmed the death of Saidi, who was also a commander in the Harakat al-Nujaba militia, which is close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
The strike hit a building that was described by the PMU as a “logistical support headquarters” affiliated to the group on Palestine Street in the centre of the Iraqi capital.
Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, called the attack “unjustified” and a “dangerous escalation and a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”. Targeted strikes in central Baghdad have become increasingly rare.
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a newly created shadowy group of Iran-backed militias, has carried out more than 100 attacks on military bases housing US and other foreign troops in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza strip.
Last month, Washington carried out retaliatory air strikes in Iraq after a drone attack by Iran-aligned militants left one US service member in critical condition and wounded two others. It has also carried out recent attacks against Iran-aligned groups in Syria.
Pentagon says operation taken ‘in self defence’ after faction carried out attacks on US personnel
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