Airstrike kills Iran's Quds force head, Iraqi PMU chief

Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, vice president of Hashd al-Shaabi group, killed in airstrike in Baghdad

By Haydar Karaalp

BAGHDAD (AA) – A airstrike near Baghdad International Airport killed the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and a top member of the Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi group, local media reported Friday.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, vice president of the Hashd al-Shaabi group, or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Forces were killed in a drone strike, according to an Iraqi national TV channel.

On Tuesday, thousands of Iraqi protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound, protesting against airstrikes Sunday in Iraq and Syria against the Kataib Hezbollah militia which killed at least 25 fighters.

The airstrikes were in response to a rocket attack Friday on a U.S. military base in Kirkuk blamed on Kataib Hezbollah.

Friday's attack killed one U.S. contractor and wounded four U.S. service members.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar

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