1 killed, 8 injured in explosion at Hashd al-Shaabi militia group’s headquarters

At least 1 person has been killed and 20 wounded in an ‘unidentified’ missile attack on Iraq’s Kalsu military base located in Babil, about 50km south of the capital Baghdad. The military base was used by the Iran-aligned Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) which claimed in a statement that 'American aggression' was responsible for the bombing. The United States denied that it was behind the air strikes in Iraq. The Iraqi government said it was investigating the incident.

At least one member of Hashd al-Shaabi militia group was killed and eight others were injured on Saturday in an explosion that targeted its headquarters in the Babil province in central Iraq, Anadolu Agency reports.

In a statement, the Iraqi Security Media Cell said that one member of the Hashd al-Shaabi group was killed while eight others, including an army member, were injured as a result of an explosion inside the Kalsu military base in the northern Babil province.

The media cell also said that Air Defense Command report showed that there were no aircraft in the airspace of Babil before and during the explosion.

“The heroes of the Civil Defense in Babil and the supporting parties made great efforts, quick measures and reinforcements that prevented the fire from spreading to greater distances and were able to control it in record time,” it said.

A specialized higher technical committee from civil defense and other relevant groups was formed to determine the causes of the explosion and fires at the site and surroundings of the accident area, the media cell added.

READ: Iraq deputy Prime Minister in US meeting, calls for regional restraint

Earlier on Saturday, the Hashd al-Shaabi militia group confirmed that an explosion had occurred at its headquarters in the Kalsu military base in the northern Babil province in central Iraq.

The explosion caused material losses and injuries, the paramilitary group said.

Meanwhile, Baghdad Today News Agency reported that “unidentified aircraft targeted the headquarters of Hashd al-Shaabi forces with two missiles at the Kalsu base in Babil province.”

The local Shafaq News agency also quoted an unnamed security source as recording the injury of three members of the Hashd al-Shaabi militia group during a missile strike targeting the Kalsu military base.

US, meanwhile, denied involvement in the blast.

“We are aware of reports claiming that the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq today. Those reports are not true,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

Israel also said it was not involved in the blast, according to CNN, citing an official.

READ: Documents reveal British soft power’s objectives in Egypt

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.