An Iraqi Shiite militia claimed a drone attack Monday targeting US troops at the airport in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, further widening the retaliation over the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The group, Saraya Awliya al-Dam, is one of a group of Shiite militias operating in Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion of the country that toppled Saddam Hussein. The US and Iraq did not immediately comment on the claim. The attack comes as Iranian-supported militias including the Lebanese group Hezbollah have entered the war started by the U.S. and Israel launching an airstrike campaign targeting Iran's theocracy.
An airstrike on the logistical support headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad on 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. 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. Officials with the US military and embassy in Baghdad did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The strike killed two people and wounded five, according to two militia officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly. One of the officials said al-Saidi was driving in
The Iraqi military said in a statement that a "terrorist group" of four elements attacked a post of a government-backed Sunni militiamen
"A soldier at the gate of Jamila market opened fire on a suicide car bomb," an official said