Iran: Revolutionary Guards commander killed in Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards was killed by a sniper in the Iraqi city of Samarrah, the Iranian military announced.

Sepah News, the news agency of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, said that Hamid Taqawi, commander of Iranian forces in Samarrah, was killed on Saturday by an Islamic State (ISIS) sniper.

It said he was in Iraq as an adviser in the war against ISIS, and to protect Shiite Muslim holy sites in the city. He was killed near the al-Askari shrine, one of the holiest sites for the world’s Shiites.

“He was one of the decision makers during the (1980-88) Iraq-Iran war, and he was a loyalist of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Sepah News said. “He was also one of the brave revolutionaries who combated the enemies of Islam,” it added.

This is the first time that Iran has officially confirmed the death of a military commander in Iraq. The report said that Iranian military missions in Iraq were solely to protect sacred Shiite shrines and advise the Iraqi army.

The Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) has warned of the growing number of Iran’s Qods forces in Iraq, saying that Tehran uses the fight against ISIS to assert itself in Iraq.