What we know about US strike that killed Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad
The US assassination of a senior Harakat al-Nujaba commander threatened to rekindle opposition to the presence of American troops among factions in Baghdad.
The US military killed a senior Iraqi militia leader on Thursday in response to a spate of attacks on US troops in that country, threatening to further fuel a simmering regional conflict already exacerbated by Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
A US airstrike hit a vehicle in Baghdad around noon local time, killing Harakat al-Nujaba commander Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al-Jawari, also known as Abu Taqwa, and an associate.
Harakat al-Nujaba is an Iran-backed Iraqi militia which formally falls under the security forces of the Iraqi government, but like other Iran-backed factions, maintains significant autonomy from Baghdad’s control. Taqwa was also the the Popular Mobilization Units’ deputy head of operations in Baghdad.
The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani blamed the US-led coalition for the strike, slamming it as an “unprovoked attack on an Iraqi security body” that it said violated the existing agreement between Washington and Baghdad.
