Blast in Iraq amid Iran, Israel tension
AT LEAST one person was killed and eight wounded in an overnight explosion at an Iraqi military base housing a coalition of pro-iranian armed groups, officials said yesterday.
The blast hit the Kalsu military base in Babylon province south of Baghdad, where members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, or Hashed al-shaabi, are stationed.
The Iraqi security forces’ media unit confirmed that its premises on the military base had been hit and that investigators had been sent to the site.
Air defence command reported “no drones or combat aircraft in the airspace of Babylon province before or during the explosion”, it said in a statement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Shortly after the explosion, the US military said its forces were not behind a reported strike in Iraq.
“The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today,” US Central Command (Centcom) posted on social media platform X, adding that reports that American forces had carried out a strike were “not true”.
When reached by AFP, the Israeli army said it “does not comment on information published in foreign media”.
In a statement, Hashed al-shaabi said an “explosion” had inflicted “material losses” and casualties, without giving a number.
An Iraqi military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said the overnight explosion had occurred in “warehouses storing equipment”.
Responding to questions from AFP, security sources did not say who may have been behind the attack.
The Hashed al-shaabi is an integral part of the official Iraqi security apparatus under the authority of the prime minister. It brings together several proiran armed factions, some of which have also carried out dozens of attacks in Iraq and Syria against US forces deployed as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
“We will retaliate against whoever is behind this aggression,” Hashed commander Abu Alaa al-walai wrote on X. “Those involved in this odious crime will pay the price.”
On Friday, strikes reported blamed on Israel targeted a military base near the city of Isfahan in central Iran.
Iraq’s foreign ministry expressed “strong concern” on Friday over the blast in Iran, warning of the “risks of military escalation which threaten security and stability in the region”.
“This escalation must not be allowed to divert attention from what’s happening in the Gaza Strip,” it said.
However, Iran has dismissed as akin to child’s play the reported Israeli retaliation for an unprecedented Iranian strike, as both sides appeared to step back yesterday from wider conflict stemming from the war in Gaza.
Israel had warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones one week ago in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike – which Iran blamed on Israel – that levelled the Iranian consulate in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards.
Iranian media reported blasts in the central province of Isfahan on Friday.
Fars news agency reported “three explosions” close to Qahjavarestan, near Isfahan airport and the 8th Shekari army airbase.
“What happened last night was no attack,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian told NBC News in a Friday interview.
“It was the flight of two or three quadcopters, which are at the level of toys that our children use in Iran.”
He added: “As long as there is no new adventure on behalf of the Israeli regime against Iran’s interests, we will have no response.”
Israeli officials have made no public comment on what, according to a senior US congressional source who spoke to AFP, were retaliatory Israeli strikes against Iran.
Tensions soared after the attack on Iran’s consulate, but violence involving Iran-backed groups had already surged throughout the Middle East alongside the Gaza war.
Officials in Iraq said yesterday that one person was killed and eight wounded in an explosion at an Iraqi military base housing a coalition of pro-iranian armed groups.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Last weekend, Iran launched its first-ever attack directly targeting Israel.
With the help of the US and other allies, Israel intercepted most of the more than 300 missiles and drones it said Iran had launched.
Only minor damage was reported and there were no fatalities.
Iran said its attack was in retaliation for the April 1 strike on its Damascus embassy consular annex.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under international pressure over the civilian toll in Gaza’s war.
According to Iranian political expert Hamid Gholamzadeh, Netanyahu needs “further escalation and another war to distract the world’s attention” from Gaza.
However, foreign ministers of the G7 group of developed economies, meeting in Italy on Friday, kept up that pressure.
The group said they opposed a “full-scale military operation in Rafah”, where most of Gaza’s population is sheltering because it would have “catastrophic consequences” for civilians.
Israel has threatened for two months to send troops in against Hamas militants in Rafah, but even without such an operation, Rafah is under regular bombardment.
Yesterday, Gaza’s Civil Defence agency said an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost point, killed nine members of a family, including six children.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the October 7 attack by Hamas-led militants has killed more than 34 000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, the territory’s health ministry said on Friday. |