Airstrike in Baghdad kills Iran-backed militia leader

Baghdad: An airstrike on the logistical support headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad Thursday killed a high-ranking militia commander, militia officials said.

Thursday’s strike comes amid mounting regional tensions fuelled by Israel-Hamas war and fears that it could spill over into surrounding countries. It also coincides with a push by Iraqi officials for US-led coalition forces to leave the country.

The Popular Mobilization Force - a coalition of militias that is nominally under the control of the Iraqi military - announced in a statement that its deputy head of operations in Baghdad, Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, or ‘Abu Taqwa,’ had been killed “as a result of brutal American aggression.”

It was not immediately clear who had carried out the strike.

Iraqi military spokesman Yehia Rasool said in a statement that the Iraqi army “holds the International Coalition Forces responsible for this unprovoked attack on an Iraqi security body operating in accordance with the powers granted to it by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.” Officials with the US military and embassy in Baghdad did not immediately respond to requests for comment.