Iraq investigates a blast at a base of Iran-allied militias that killed 1. US denies involvement

2024-12-25 13:51:07 source:lotradecoin ecosystem development roadmap category:Scams

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities said Saturday that they were investigating an explosion that struck a base belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iran-allied militias, killing one person and injuring eight.

Militia officials had initially described the explosion at the Kalsu military base north of Babylon — a former U.S. base that was handed over to the Iraqi military in 2011 — as an airstrike, blaming it on U.S. forces. The U.S. Central Command denied in a statement that it had carried out any airstrikes in Iraq.

The PMF in a statement Saturday afternoon described the blast as an “attack” but did not blame any specific party.

Iraq’s Security Media Cell said the country’s air defense command had not detected any drones or fighter plane in the airspace of Babylon before or during the explosion. It said one PMF member died and eight people were injured, including an Iraqi army soldier.

The PMF is a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups designated as an “independent military formation” within the Iraqi armed forces.

In recent months, some of the PMF member groups launched attacks on U.S. forces based in Iraq and Syria, which they said was in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Those attacks halted at the end of January after three U.S. soldiers were killed in a strike on a base in Jordan, near the Syrian border, prompting U.S. retaliatory strikes in Iraq.

READ MORE Iraq’s prime minister heads to Michigan to meet Arab Americans at a tense time for the Middle East Biden hosts Iraqi leader after Iran’s attack on Israel throws Mideast into greater uncertainty Chaldean patriarch returns to Baghdad after nine months of self-imposed exile amid political dispute

The explosion at the PMF base came a day after a suspected Israeli strike in Iran. An umbrella group of Iran-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said Saturday that it had launched a drone attack against the Israeli Red Sea town of Eilat in response to what it described as Israel’s “violation of Iraqi sovereignty in its treacherous targeting of the Popular Mobilization Forces camps.”

There were no reports in Israel of an attack on Eilat and no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

More:Scams

Recommend

Hate crime charges dropped against 12 college students arrested in Maryland assault

SALISBURY, Md. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped hate crime charges against 12 of the 15 Salisbury Uni

Judge suspends Justin Timberlake’s driver’s license over DWI arrest in New York

SAG HARBOR, N.Y. (AP) — A New York judge suspended Justin Timberlake’s driver’s license Friday at a

Track and field Olympics schedule: Every athletics event at Paris Olympics and when it is

The track and field calendar of events at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will take up 10 days, with so