WEB DESK
Thousands of people gathered in Baghdad on Saturday ahead of a funeral procession for Iran’s slain military commander Qassem Soleimani, Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and others killed in a Friday U.S. air strike in Iraq.
Friday’s attack on Baghdad airport, authorised by U.S. President Donald Trump, was a major escalation in a “shadow war” in the Middle East between Iran and the United States and American allies, principally Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Tensions soared between the US and Iran after fresh air strikes by the US targetted Iraqi militia convoy took place in the north of Baghdad on Saturday early morning. “Airstrikes targeting Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of Iran-backed Shi’ite militias near camp Taji north of Baghdad have killed six people and critically wounded three, an Iraqi army source said late on Friday. Two of the three vehicles making up a militia convoy were found burned, the source said, as well as six burned corpses. The strikes took place at 1.12am local time, he said,” Reuters reported.
Today’s attack comes after the killing of the latter’s top military commander, General Qassem Soleimani, in an American drone strike in Baghdad. Iran vowed “harsh retaliation” whereas, the US had announced it would send more troops to the region. Pentagon confirmed that US President Donald Trump had ordered Soleimani’s killing in the retaliatory attack.
Soleimani was Tehran’s most prominent military commander and the architect of its growing influence in the Middle East. Muhandis was the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) umbrella grouping of paramilitary groups.
The PMF are planning an elaborate funeral procession for both men and the others who died, starting in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, moving towards the Shi’ite holy city of Kerbala and ending in the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf.
Mourners started gathering in Baghdad’s streets from the morning ahead of the start of the procession, waving Iraqi and militia flags in a sombre atmosphere.