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"(U.S.) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response
to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing a Kataib
Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and
participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region," a
statement from the military said. It did not name the commander.
It added that there were no indications of civilian casualties.
Two security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
the commander was Abu Baqir al-Saadi, killed in a drone strike
on a vehicle in eastern Baghdad.
One of the sources said three people were killed and that the
vehicle targeted was used by Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces
(PMF), a state security agency composed of dozens of armed
groups, many of them close to Iran.
Kataib Hezbollah fighters and commanders are part of the PMF.
Three U.S. troops were killed in January in a drone attack near
the Jordan-Syria border that the Pentagon said bore the
"footprints" of Kataib Hezbollah. The group then announced it
was suspending military operations against U.S. troops in the
region.
Iraq and Syria have witnessed near daily tit-for-tat attacks
between hardline Iran-backed armed groups and U.S. forces
stationed in the region since the Gaza war began in October.
The U.S. struck Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria last
weekend in what it said was just the beginning of its response
to the killing of the three U.S. soldiers.
In January, a U.S. drone strike killed a senior militia
commander in central Baghdad, an attack Washington said came in
response to drone and rocket attacks on its forces.
On Wednesday, Iraqi special forces were on high alert in Baghdad
and further units were deployed inside the Green Zone housing
international diplomatic missions including the U.S. embassy, a
security source said.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and
Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Timour
Azhari and Muhammad Al Gebaly; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and
Rosalba O'Brien)
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