US hits back with air strikes after deadly attack

FIVE Iraqi security force members and a civilian were killed in a barrage of US air strikes, according to Iraq’s military. The strikes were launched hours after a rocket attack killed and wounded American and British service personnel at a base north of Baghdad.

An Iran-backed Shiite militia group vowed revenge for the US strikes, potentially signalling another cycle of tit-for-tat violence between Washington and Tehran that could play out inside Iraq.

US officials said the air strikes’ targets were mainly weapons facilities belonging to militia group Kataib Hezbollah.

The group is believed to have been responsible for Wednesday’s attack on Camp Taji, which killed 26-year-old army medic Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon, from Ayr, alongside two US servicemen, and injured another 12 military personnel.

However, Iraq’s military said the US strikes killed three Iraqi army commandos and two federal police officers. A Shiite official in the city of Karbala said the strikes resulted in the death of one civilian in an under-construction airport complex.

Iraq’s military condemned the air strikes, saying they were a breach of the country’s sovereignty.“The pretext that this attack came as a response to the aggressive action targeting Taji Camp is a false one, and leads to escalation without providing any solutions to control the situation,” the statement said.

It also said the US strikes wounded five militia members belonging to the Popular Mobilisation Units.

Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iran-backed militia group designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, vowed to retaliate with “an eye for an eye”.