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A strike in northern Iraq on Saturday resulted in the deaths of three fighters from the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi, with the group attributing the attack to the United States and Israel.
In a separate incident, two police officers were killed and five others injured in a strike on a police station in Mosul, which the interior ministry also blamed on a US-Israeli operation.
Iraq has increasingly been drawn into the wider Middle East conflict, which began on February 28 following US-Israeli strikes on Iran, despite efforts to remain uninvolved.
Pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq have carried out drone and rocket attacks against several US targets, including the American embassy in Baghdad.
Military bases associated with Hashed al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), have also come under attack. Although integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces, some factions within the PMF maintain ties to Iran and have acted independently in the past. The group has previously accused the United States of carrying out such strikes.
According to the PMF, three of its fighters were killed and four others wounded in what it described as a “treacherous Zionist-US attack” near Kirkuk International Airport.
A security official reported that six Iraqi soldiers were also injured in the strike, which occurred near Iraqi air force and special forces installations.
Responsibility for the attack has not been independently confirmed.
Tensions between Washington and Baghdad have escalated amid the ongoing conflict, particularly following a strike on a medical facility in western Iraq that left seven members of the security forces dead.
Although Iraq has not formally blamed the United States for that incident, it summoned the US chargé d’affaires in response. Washington has strongly denied targeting Iraqi security personnel.
On Saturday night, two drones targeted the US embassy in Baghdad for the first time in ten days, but were intercepted and destroyed outside the Green Zone.
Additionally, a drone targeted the US diplomatic compound at Baghdad airport overnight, although details regarding any damage remain unclear, according to a security official.
