A new airstrike in Iraq which targeted a commander in Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force on Saturday, US has denied being responsible for it.
The new air strike targeted a commander in Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force on Saturday, a day after an American drone strike killed Qassim Soleimani, a top Iranian general, state television reported.
Reuters reported that the Iraqi army revealed that the airstrikes targeting Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces – an umbrella grouping of Iran-backed Shia militias – struck near Taji, north of Baghdad, killing six people and critically wounded three, an Iraqi army source said late on Friday.
US official has denied that the attack was carried out by the Americans.
Two of the three vehicles making up a militia convoy were found burned, the source said, as well as six burned corpses. The strikes took place at 1.12am local time.
Confirming the strike, Iran-backed Hashed said it hit one of its medical convoys near a stadium in Taji. The group said none of its top leaders were killed.
The attack comes less than 24 hours after the Americans killed Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force and only hours after Donald Trump insisted that the US “took action last night to stop a war…. not to start a war.”
The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State has said that it did not conduct any airstrikes near Taji ,north of Baghdad.
“FACT: the coalition @cjtfoir did not conduct airstrikes near Camp Taji (north of Baghdad) in recent days,” a spokesman said on Twitter.
FACT: The Coalition @CJTFOIR did NOT conduct airstrikes near Camp Taji (north of Baghdad) in recent days.
— OIR Spokesperson (@OIRSpox) January 4, 2020
