Updated
Jul 31, 2024, 06:54 AM
Published
Jul 31, 2024, 05:44 AM
BAGHDAD – Blasts on Tuesday inside a base south of Baghdad used by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) killed four members of the official state security agency containing several Iran-aligned armed groups, and wounded four others, police and medical sources told Reuters.
The initial death toll was one, but two others who were critically injured in the blasts later died and another body was retrieved from the location of the blasts, hospital sources and a local government official said.
The blasts came after multiple rockets were launched at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase housing U.S.-led forces late on Thursday, U.S. and Iraqi sources said, with no damage or casualties reported.
In a statement issued following the blasts, PMF made no accusation, saying it was unidentified explosion.
Another PMF statement issued later said rockets fired by drones targeted two patrols for the PMF forces in town of Jurf al-Sakhar just south of Baghdad.
An Iraqi military official said the cause of the blast remained unclear and authorities will start investigating the incident.
Two Iraqi PMF local commanders accused the U.S. of carrying out airstrikes that targeted the PMF base. There was no immediate response from the U.S. military.
Ambulances rushed to the area where the camp is located, 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, said witnesses.
Iraq, a rare ally of both Tehran and Washington which hosts 2,500 U.S. troops and has Iran-backed militias linked to its security forces, has witnessed escalating tit-for-tat attacks since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October. REUTERS
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