Iraq probes explosion at Shiite militia arms depot

Iraq on Thursday banned unauthorised flights and ordered all military camps and munitions warehouses to be moved outside Iraqi cities following a massive explosion at a munitions depot southwest of Baghdad that killed one civilian and wounded 13 earlier this week.

The exact cause of Monday night’s explosion at the Al Saqr military base is still unknown. The blast shook the Iraqi capital and sent explosives and mortar shells shooting into the sky, damaging nearby homes and terrifying residents who ran into the streets with their cellphones. Black smoke billowed over the city for hours afterward.

The federal police base houses a weapons depot belonging to a militia group under the umbrella of the mainly Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces. The state-sanctioned PMF militias have fought alongside Iraq’s regular armed forces against Daesh.

Host of theories

Some officials blamed the explosion at the base, also known as Falcon Camp, on faulty storage that caused overheating amid typically high temperatures in Baghdad. But the blast has also given rise to a host of theories, including that Israel may have conducted an air strike.

Israel has struck Iranian bases in neighbouring Syria on numerous occasions, and there has been speculation that it might be expanding its campaign to target Iranian bases to Iraq. However, neither the Iraqi government nor Israel have addressed the reports. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi ordered a “thorough investigation” into the incident, ordering the investigation be concluded within a week.