The Iraqi government has strongly condemned US strikes which targeted sites used by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said they “blatantly” violated his country’s sovereignty.
The US said its “proportionate” attacks had targeted “Iran-affiliated groups”.
The paramilitary Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) said the “treacherous” US action killed one of their fighters.
The PMF, which is dominated by Iran-backed Shia Muslim militias, said a number of other fighters were injured in strikes on their bases in al-Qaim, a town on the Syrian border in western Anbar province, and in Jurf al-Nasr, in the central province of Babil.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes on three facilities belonging to the Kataib Hezbollah militia and other groups were “in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks” against US and other international forces in Iraq and Syria.
Major General Yehia Rasool, a spokesman for Prime Minister Sudani, said in a statement that the US action was “contributing to a reckless escalation”.
Credit: bbc.com
