Iraqi President condemns US attack on PMU bases as death toll reaches 25
Iran Press TV
Sunday, 29 December 2019 10:56 PM
Iraqi President Barham Salih has condemned Washington's attacks on Kata'ib Hezbollah, which is part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), as the death toll from the attack reaches more than two dozen.
The Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on Friday that Salih decried the attacks as being unacceptable and damaging for the country, adding that the strikes were contrary to agreements between Baghdad and Washington.
Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, also said that Adel Abdul-Mahdi, currently Iraq's caretaker prime minister, has voiced his opposition to the attacks in a message to US Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
"Bombing PMU bases is a dangerous aggravation which endangers the security of Iraq and the region," Iraqi media sources cited Abdul-Mahdi as saying.
The premier also reportedly ordered Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC) to not allow any air or land-based operation to take place in the country without the government's approval.
Earlier on Friday, US forces conducted airstrikes on a number of Kata'ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq's western Anbar province, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 others injured, according to the PMU.
The Pentagon also issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.
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