BAGHDAD: Five Iran-backed fighters in Iraq were killed on Tuesday in strikes their groups blamed on the United States.
The Kataeb Imam Ali group said four fighters were killed in an “American aggression” at dawn against one of their positions in the Debs district of Kirkuk province in northern Iraq.
Late Tuesday, another strike killed a fighter from the Kataeb Hezbollah group in Al-Qaem area near the Iraqi-Syrian border, a source from the group told AFP.
The bombings targeted positions occupied by the Hashed Al-Shaabi, an alliance of factions integrated into Iraq’s regular army.
It also encompasses Iran-backed fighters, including the Kataeb Imam Ali and Kataeb Hezbollah groups.
Since the start of the Middle East war, bases belonging to Hashed Al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilization Forces, have been hit several times.
Iraq, long a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, had said it did not want to be dragged into the war, but it has not been spared.
Iran-backed groups have claimed attacks on US bases in Iraq and in the region, without specifying their targets.
At least five drones targeted on Tuesday a military base at the Baghdad International Airport, which houses a US diplomatic facility, a security source said.
One drone crashed near Iraq’s anti-terrorism forces and another ignited a fire at a depot, with no casualties reported, according to the source.
The autonomous Kurdistan region in the north, hosts US troops and has been a main target of drone attacks, but these have largely been intercepted.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said early Tuesday that they had targeted a US base in the region.
At night, the US-led coalition air defenses downed a drone that crashed between the US consulate in Kurdistan capital Irbil and the airport, which houses US and foreign troops, a Kurdish security source said.
On Monday, a drone was downed near the UAE consulate in the city.