“On December 3, near Kirkuk, Iraq, forces assigned to Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) engaged five militants preparing to launch a one-way attack drone. CJTF-OIR forces responded in self-defense with an armed U.S. unmanned aerial system, killing all five militants and destroying the drone,” read a statement by the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
Sabah Ali, commander of the Imam Ali battalion, a Sunni militia under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), told Rudaw on Sunday 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 Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a pro-Iran 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, 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.
CENTCOM said in the Monday statement that it notified Baghdad of the airstrike.
“Iraqi Security Forces were notified of the strike and responded to the location, where they confirmed the death of the militants and the destruction of the drone. The United States will continue to defend U.S. and coalition personnel from attacks,” read the statement.
Spokesperson for the Department of State Matthew Miller told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing on Monday that the US expects the Iraqi government to take action against pro-Iran militants.
“We believe the Iraqi government has the responsibility to prevent and respond to these attacks against American personnel who are in Iraq again at the invitation of the Iraqi government to carry out the ISIS activities. The Iraqi government has said that they would take action to prevent such strikes and we expect them to do so,” he said.
“We have made it very clear to them that we expect them to take action,” added Miller.
Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2019.
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. The groups are angry over Washington’s support for Israel in its fight against the Palestinian Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip.
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