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'Bombing' hits Iraq military base: security sources
The ministry of interior official said the attack had killed one person and wounded eight others, while the military source reported three Iraqi military personnel had been wounded.
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Vehicles drive along a street in Baghdad on March 19, 2023. It is more than 20 years since the start of the United States-led invasion of Iraq that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. The oil-rich country remains traumatized from the years of war, occupation and bloody sectarian turmoil that followed the operation launched early on March 20, 2003. (AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
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everal people were wounded in a "bombing" overnight Friday on an Iraqi military base housing pro-Iranian paramilitaries, two security sources said.
The explosion hit the Calso base, where former pro-Iranian paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi -- now integrated into the regular army -- is stationed, according to an interior ministry source and a military official.
The ministry of interior official said the attack had killed one person and wounded eight others, while the military source reported three Iraqi military personnel had been wounded.
In a statement, Hashed al-Shaabi said the attack had inflicted "material losses" and casualties, without specifying the number of wounded.
The organisation said an "explosion" had hit its premises on the base and that investigators were sent to the site.
Responding to questions from AFP, the security sources would not identify who was responsible for the attack, or say whether it had been a drone strike.
"The explosion hit equipment, weapons and vehicles," said the ministry source.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said the explosions occurred in "warehouses storing equipment".
"A fire is still raging and the search for the injured is continuing," the source said.
On social media, the US military said its forces were not behind the reported strike.
"The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today," US Central Command (CENTCOM) posted on X, adding that reports that American forces had carried out a strike were "not true."
Hashed al-Shaabi, an alliance of mainly Shiite armed groups formed to fight the Islamic State group, is now a part of Iraq's security forces.
The attack on the pro-Iranian paramilitaries comes amid spiraling regional tensions over the war between Israel and Tehran-backed Palestinian militants Hamas.
On Friday, strikes blamed on Israel targeted a military base near Isfahan in Iran.
