BAGHDAD (Agencies): A drone attacked a vehicle in Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Wednesday night, killing at least one person, security sources said after several loud blasts were heard in quick succession across parts of the city.
One security source said the strike killed a Kataib Hezbollah commander.
“A drone fired three rockets at a 4X4 car” in east Baghdad, said another source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The other said the vehicle belonged to an official from Hashed al-Shaabi, a coalition of mainly pro-Iran paramilitaries now integrated into Iraq’s regular security forces.
A different source said three people were killed and that the vehicle targeted was used by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a state security agency comprised of dozens of armed groups, many of them close to Iran.
The drone strike took place in the city’s eastern Mashtal neighborhood, the sources said.
Iraq has witnessed tit-for-tat attacks between hardline Iran-backed armed groups and US forces stationed in the country since the Gaza war began in October.
In January, a US drone strike killed a senior militia commander in central Baghdad, an attack Washington said came in response to drone and rocket attacks on its forces.
US officials did not immediately respond to a requests for comment on Wednesday’s strike.
