At least 30 people were killed, and dozens were injured in air strikes targeting the headquarters of the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) in Anbar in western Iraq, local media reported.
The PMU is an umbrella organisation of mostly Shia militias, some of which have ties to neighbouring Iran. It was originally formed as a volunteer force that supported the Iraqi security forces in their fight against the Daesh terror group. Since 2016, the force has been incorporated into Iraq’s armed forces.
Shafaq News, citing a security source, said on Thursday that air strikes targeted at least three sites of the PMU’s 19th Brigade in the town of Akashat in western Anbar.
No information was yet available about the party behind the strikes.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the attacks on the group.
The attack follows several other strikes targeting Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Units in recent days. On Monday, an air strike hit PMU positions east of Mosul, according to two security sources. Earlier, on March 4, two drones targeted two PMU headquarters in northern Mosul and on March 6, additional air strikes struck PMU sites in Mosul and north of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, the Iran-backed Kataib Imam Ali group, affiliated with the PMU, said four of its members were killed and 12 wounded in air strikes in northern Iraq, blaming the United States for targeting its position in the Dibis district of Kirkuk province.
The attacks came as the US and Israel continued air strikes on Iran that began on February 28, killing more than 1,200 people and injuring over 10,000 others.
Tehran-backed group quickly entered the conflict after it erupted, launching missile and drone attacks on bases housing US troops and diplomatic facilities across Iraq.
