A militia leader from the Hashd Al Shaabi organization was killed Thursday along with another person during an alleged U.S. attack in Baghdad, Iraq. As reported by the coalition comprising several Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, several drones fired on a logistics support center in the east of the Iraqi capital, killing a total of two people, including Baghdad's deputy commander of operations, Mustaq Talib Al Saidi.
The Al Nujaba movement, one of the coalition’s factions, reported the death of Talib Al Saidi, stating that the militiaman "was martyred in a U.S. attack." It also reported another casualty and seven more wounded from the drone strike: "Two members [of Hashd Al Shaabi] were killed and seven others were wounded," it said.
This was this same organization that first accused U.S. forces of being responsible for the attack. This information was confirmed to Fox News by a U.S. official who assured that the attack had indeed been carried out by American forces. However, the report explained, their target was a vehicle and not the entire facility. In addition, they intended to shoot down a leader of the Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi Shiite militant group.
Iraq accuses the international coalition
Per an AFP report, the Iraqi government accused the international anti-jihadist coalition of being responsible for the attack. In addition, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al Sudani said in a statement that the "attack was a dangerous escalation and a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty":
The Iraqi Armed Forces hold U.S.-led coalition responsible for this unwarranted attack on an Iraqi security entity that is operating within the powers authorized by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
He further added that the attack represents an "assault on Iraq that departs from the spirit and text of the mandate and mission for which the coalition was established in Iraq." Along with this, Shia Al Sudani claimed that the action undermined "all understandings" between Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition troops.
For the time being, Washington has not issued a statement admitting or denying responsibility for the incident. It is known that the United States has suffered more than 100 attacks against it in Syria and Iraq since the outbreak of the conflict in the Gaza Strip. However, the country decided to maintain about 2,500 soldiers in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the agreement it made with the international coalition that emerged with the aim of fighting the Islamic State in 2014.
