Qasem Soleimani reportedly killed in Baghdad Airport, militia leader blames Israel, US
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Iraqi paramilitary groups said five of their members and two "guests" were killed in an air strike on their vehicles inside Baghdad International Airport, militia sources reported on early Friday, after Iraq's Security Media Cell announced that three katyusha rockets had targeted Baghdad Airport.
The militia members were hosting "important guests" at Baghdad airport who were being driven in two militia vehicles that were struck by two rockets, said the militia sources.
Two militia sources said the two guests were also killed in the attack but declined to identify them.
Police and health sources said that at least five people were killed and nine wounded.
Iraqi state media reported that deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and the commander of the IRGC Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, were both killed in the attack.
Shi'ite PMF said in a post on Facebook that its director of public relations was killed in what it described as "cowardly U.S. bombing."
An Iraqi militia spokesman blamed "Americans and Israelis" for being behind the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Supporters of Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday following U.S. air raids on Sunday against Kataib Hezbollah militia bases in retaliation for missile attacks that killed a U.S. contractor in northern Iraq last week.
Tension between the United States and Iran has ramped up in the region over U.S. economic sanctions hurting the Iranian economy. The two sides have traded blame over attacks on oil installations, militia arms depots as well as military bases hosting U.S. forces.
https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Four-rockets-land-on-Baghdad-airport-report-612947