Suspected US airstrike kills 5 militia members in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected United States airstrike killed at least five Iraqi militia members in Kirkuk province on Sunday, according to a security official and media reports.

Sabah Ali, commander of the Imam Ali battalion, a Sunni militia under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), told Rudaw that he heard “loud explosions.”

“We went to the site of the incident and found a vehicle belonging to the 40th brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces had been targeted, and five bodies were transported from the site of the incident,” he said.

"The commanders of both the Joint Operations Command (JOC) and the PMF are at the site of the incident, and all that is known so far is that the strike was from the air,” he added.

Reuters, citing Iraqi security sources, reported that the militia were hit by a suspected US airstrike as they were preparing to fire rockets on American forces.

The US has not confirmed the strike.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group that has claimed responsibility for the majority of recent attacks on US troops, said the five dead were members of their militia and blamed the United States. They vowed to carry out more attacks.

The attack on the PMF is the second one in less than two weeks. On November 22, US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that they struck two militia facilities in retaliation for attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria, which have been ongoing since October 17 in response to Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Gaza.

On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani told US State Secretary Antony Blinken in a phone call that he “firmly” rejected any attack on Iraqi land.

Since October, US troops based in Iraq and Syria have been attacked with one-way drones and rockets around 70 times by armed groups backed by Iran, causing over 60 injuries to American personnel, according to the Pentagon.

Updated at 11:25 pm