It is a joint base that houses the headquarters of the Army and Police, as well as the Popular Multitude militias, in the Babel governorate, located about 80 kilometers southeast of the Iraqi capital. The facts are investigated, and the US denies its involvement in them.
The Iraqi authorities stated this Saturday that one person has died and eight others have been injured in a burst, allegedly caused by an airstrike, in a military base of the influential Shiite group pro-Iranian Popular Crowdwith the presence of the Arab country’s Army.
The Security Cell, spokesperson for the Iraqi Army and Police, explained in a statement that the “explosion, which caused several fires, occurred at 01:00 local time on Saturday (11:00 GMT) at the base of Kalsu and has caused the death of a member of the Popular Crowd and has left 8 people injured, including an Army soldier.”
He pointed out that it is a joint base which houses the headquarters of the Army and the Police, as well as the Popular Crowd militiasin the Babel governorate, located about 80 kilometers southeast of the Iraqi capital.
The official note neither confirms nor denies the statements of Iraqi security sources who assured last morning that it was an attack “by unknown aircraft”, and highlights that “a specialized higher technical committee (…) has been created to determine the causes of the explosion and fires” at the base.
For his part, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported early Saturday morning in a statement in X that its air force “has not carried out airstrikes in Iraq today” and has described as “not true” the reports in Iraqi media about an alleged US attack.
The militias Popular Crowdintegrated de facto into the Iraqi Armed Forces, They bring together several pro-Iranian Shiite formations that numerous attacks with drones and projectiles have been attributed in recent months against Israel and bases with a US presence in Iraq and Syria.
The US, for its part, has attacked positions and alleged leaders of movements such as Al Nujba and Kataib Hezbollah, which are part of the Multitude, in recent months.
Both groups, considered terrorists by Washington, are also part of the amalgamation of pro-Iran militias Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has launched more than 160 attacks against Washington positions on Iraqi and Syrian soil since the start of the latest Israeli offensive on Gaza on the 7th. October.
Iraq, whose government is an ally of the US but does not recognize the State of Israel, criticized US attacks on its territory on several occasions, considering that they “harm its sovereignty.”
Baghdad also began negotiations with the United States to establish a schedule for the departure of foreign troops from the Arab country to end the international coalition’s mission against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group after a decade of operations.
Source: Eitb
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