5 killed in a US air strike in northern Iraq
US soldiers in Iraq. Photo: Milwaukee Independent
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Three Iraqi security sources revealed that five militants were killed in an air strike carried out by US forces in Kirkuk city in northern Iraq.
The sources explained that the operation took place after the militants, identified as Iranian-backed militias, prepared to launch explosive shells at US troops stationed in Iraq, according to Reuters.
A US military official said earlier on Sunday that US and coalition forces were attacked in northeastern Syria, but no deaths, injuries, or damage to the infrastructure were reported.
Iraqi armed groups have claimed responsibility for more than 70 similar attacks on American forces since October 17 in response to Washington’s support for Israel in its war in Gaza.
The attacks stopped during a recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas but resumed after the end of the truce.
In November, the United States launched attacks on what it said were pro-Iranian armed groups that participated in attacks on its forces.
These attacks led to the deaths of at least 10 militants identified as members of an armed faction calling itself Kataib Hezbollah and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an official security institution composed mainly of armed groups, many of which have links to Iran.
The Iraqi government condemned these attacks, describing them as escalatory and violating Iraq’s sovereignty.
900 US soldiers are stationed in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission that the United States says is advisory to assist local forces in preventing the terrorist group ISIS from reemerging.