Baghdad: Key Iranian military leader Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis have been killed in an air strike on their convoy in Baghdad airport, an Iraqi militia spokesman told Reuters.
“The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani,” said Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of Iran-backed militias.
US officials told Reuters that strikes had been carried out against two targets linked to Iran in Baghdad.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to give any further details.
Three rockets hit Baghdad International Airport, killing five members of Iraqi paramilitary groups and two “guests”, Iraqi paramilitary groups said on Friday.
Earlier the official said seven people were killed by a missile fired at the airport, blaming the United States.
The dead included its airport protocol officer, identifying him as Mohammed Reda.
A security official confirmed that seven people were killed in the attack on the airport, describing it as an air strike. Earlier, Iraq’s Security Media Cell, which releases information regarding Iraqi security, said Katyusha rockets landed near the airport’s cargo hall, killing several people and setting two cars on fire.
It was not immediately clear who fired the missile or rockets. There was no immediate comment from the US.
The security official said the bodies of those killed in the airport attack were burnt and difficult to identify. The official added that Reda may have been at the airport to pick up a group of “high-level” visitors who had arrived from a neighbouring country. He declined to provide more information.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald (Reuters, AP).