BAGHDAD, Feb 28 — A bombing that targeted an Iraqi military base housing a pro-Iran group killed at least two people, Iraqi authorities said Saturday.
The United States and Israel have launched strikes against Iran, with US President Donald Trump vowing to “annihilate” the country’s navy and missile sites.
The Jurf al-Sakher base, also known as Jurf al-Nasr, in southern Iraq belongs to Hashed al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a former paramilitary group now integrated into the regular army.
But the base mostly hosts the powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah.
A source from Kataeb Hezbollah told AFP that “there are two martyrs from Kataeb and another five wounded in the aggression on the Jurf al-Nasr base.”
The Iraqi government’s security media cell announced that “at 11:50 am (0850 GMT), the Jurf al-Nasr area… was targeted by several airstrikes, resulting in the martyrdom of two people.”
It also wounded three others.
The Hashed al-Shaabi confirmed the attack and the casualties.
A source in the Hashed al-Shaabi told AFP: “It is not clear yet if the attack was carried out by the Americans or the Israelis”.
The US-blacklisted Kataeb has several brigades that operate within the Hashed al-Shaabi. It is also part of the Iran-backed so-called “axis of resistance” and has a reputation for acting on its own.
The group warned the US on Thursday of “immense losses” were it to start a war in the region, and it urged its fighters “to prepare for a potentially long war of attrition”. — AFP
