Funeral held for PMF commander killed after airstrike on Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad

Описание: (4 Jan 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baghdad - 4 January 2024
1. Various of crowds gathered by truck carrying coffin of high-ranking Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) commander Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jalil Al Jabari, mourner:
“We denounce this blatant attack by the American forces which targeted our homeland, its sovereignty, its flag, parliament, and the government. Unfortunately, parliament is silent, and the government is not doing its role by taking a decision to expel the occupier and defend the homeland.”
3. Various of the funeral procession, PMF members chanting UPSOUND (Arabic): “Fight us face to face, not by your planes.”
STORYLINE:
Crowds gathered in the Iraqi capital for the funeral of a high-ranking militia commander killed, according to militia officials, in a U.S. airstrike on Thursday.

The Popular Mobilization Force, or PMF, a coalition of militias that is nominally under the control of the Iraqi military, announced in a statement that its deputy head of operations in Baghdad, Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, or “Abu Taqwa,” had been killed “as a result of brutal American aggression.”

It comes as militia officials said the U.S. carried out an airstrike on the logistical support headquarters of a militia in central Baghdad on Thursday.

An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't permitted to speak publicly, confirmed that the U.S. military carried out the strike.

Thursday’s strike comes amid mounting regional tensions fueled by the Israel-Hamas war and fears that it could spill over into surrounding countries.

It also coincides with a push by Iraqi officials for US-led coalition forces to leave the country.

Iraqi military spokesman Yehia Rasool said in a statement that the Iraqi army blames the U.S.-led International Coalition Forces for the “unprovoked attack on an Iraqi security body operating in accordance with the powers granted to it by” the Iraqi military.

The primary mission of the U.S.-led coalition is to fight the Islamic State, the Sunni extremist militant group that continues to carry out periodic attacks in Iraq despite having lost its hold on the territory it once controlled in 2017.

Since then, the coalition has transitioned from a combat role to an advisory and training mission.

The PMF, a group of Iranian-backed, primarily Shiite militias, were also key in the fight against Islamic State after it overran much of Iraq in 2014.

The PMF is officially under the command of the Iraqi army, but in practice the militias operate independently.

Thursday's strike killed two people and wounded five, according to two militia officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

One of the officials said al-Saidi was driving into the garage of the headquarters affiliated with the Harakat al-Nujaba militia, along with another militia official, when the car was hit, killing both.

Heavy security was deployed around the location of the strike on Baghdad’s Palestine Street, and Iraqi war planes could be seen flying overhead.

An Associated Press photographer was eventually allowed access to the scene of the strike, where he saw the remains of the charred car.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, a group of Iranian-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has carried out more than 100 attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.


Thursday's strike is likely to increase calls for a U.S. departure.


AP video shot by: Ali Jabar



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