US kills Iraqi militia leader in drone strike on Baghdad: Pentagon kills commander blaming it for attacks on US troops
- Witnesses said a drone fired two missiles at a facility used by Iranian-backed militias
- The Popular Mobilization Force said one of its senior figures was killed
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The US military was behind a drone strike in Baghdad that killed an Iraqi militia leader accused of attacking US forces in the country, a senior US official said.
It comes at a time when growing regional tensions due to the conflict in Gaza threaten to spread beyond borders, sparking a regional war in the Middle East.
The deputy chief of operations in Baghdad said this, according to the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF). Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi was killed in the attack.
The group is linked to the Iraqi armed forces, but the government in Baghdad has only limited control over its activities
The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack targeted a leader of Harakat al Nujaba, a Shiite militia that is part of the PMF, without naming the individual.
Iraqi security forces arrive at the site where Al-Nujaba senior commander Abu Taqwa Al-Saidi was killed in a US drone strike on January 4 in Baghdad, Iraq.
Medical teams take the injured and dead to hospitals after the drone strike
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry condemned the attack.
“Iraq reserves the right to take a firm position and take all measures that deter anyone who attempts to harm its country and security forces,” it said.
Iraqi police sources and witnesses said a drone in eastern Baghdad fired at least two missiles at a facility used by the Iraqi militia group al-Nujaba.
The Iranian-backed organization was designated a terrorist group by the Trump administration in 2019.
At the time, it reportedly commanded about 10,000 fighters and was once seen as one of the top recruiters sending foreign fighters into Syria to fight the Islamic State.
Today it is among the militias that have carried out more than 100 attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria since the Palestinian terrorist group killed 1,200 Israelis on October 7.
The result is a series of provocations that risk further inflaming tensions or sparking a bigger war.
Lebanese officials accuse Israel of using a drone to kill a senior Hamas commander in Beirut on Tuesday.
Saleh Arouri, the group's deputy political head, had long been a target of Israel.
A day later, two explosions ripped through a ceremony commemorating the death of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' top commander Qassem Soleimani, killing at least 100 people in the country's southeastern city of Kerman.