World News
A powerful explosion Friday rocked a military base near Baghdad housing members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, which has close ties to Iran, according to multiple reports.
Israeli and American officials have both denied responsibility for the explosion.
“The explosion caused material damage and injuries,” PMF said in a statement, according to Reuters.
One PMP fighter was killed and six were injured, the media outlet said.
“The United States did not conduct airstrikes in Iraq today,” US Central Command told Bloomberg News.
“Israel is not involved in reports of explosions in Iraq,” an Israeli official told CNN.
The explosion occurred about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, at the Kalsu military base, which is the headquarters of the PMP.
The Institute for the Study of War notes that the PMP – an official Iraqi security force – has been “infiltrated” by Iran and is being used to “exert significant influence in Iraq.”
“Iran’s co-optation of the PMF allows Tehran to pursue its objectives in Iraq while concealing its actual involvement in Iraqi internal affairs,” according to the think tank.
PMF groups are responsible for some of the hundreds of rocket and drone attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since last October, when Israel declared war on Hamas.
The explosion in Iraq comes a day after Israel launched a “limited” strike that reportedly hit near a major air base in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, home to 2 million people and an underground site uranium enrichment.
The strike was a response to last weekend’s unprecedented missile and drone attack on the Jewish nation by Iran – in retaliation for the bombing of an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria.
News Source : nypost.com
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