US airstrikes targeting an Iraqi militia convoy near camp Taji north of Baghdad were reported by Iraqi state TV on Saturday. Pentagon officials confirmed that the strike was carried out by the US and said the operation was meant to target the Imam Ali Brigades. They further claimed it is likely that the leader of the group, Shubul al-Zaidi, had been killed, Newsweekreported on Saturday.
Six people were killed in the strikes, three were critically wounded, an Iraqi army source said.
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 1:12 am local time.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of paramilitary groups said on Saturday that the air strike hit a convoy of medics, not senior leaders as the Pentagon claimed.
The alleged US airstrikes follow recent US assassination of IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Iran warned the U.N. it reserves the right to defend itself following what it called a “cowardly US bombing.”
“This is war,” pro-Hezbollah Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar said on Friday following Soleimani’s assassination.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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