PMF says four killed airstrikes on Qaim positions

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces said early Monday that four of its members were killed and 11 wounded in airstrikes on its positions in Qaim district of Anbar governorate, which it attributed to U.S. and Israeli forces.

The PMF said aircraft returned to strike the site a second time as members gathered to rescue and evacuate the wounded, “in a dangerous escalation that reflects the insistence of the aggressors on shedding blood.”

Earlier Sunday evening, a security source told 964media that a suspected airstrike had targeted Kataib Hezbollah positions in the Akashat area of Qaim district, killing two members and wounding five. Iraq’s Joint Operations Command later confirmed that a PMF position belonging to the 45th Brigade had been struck by two airstrikes in the same area, resulting in a number of casualties. The Monday statement appears to reflect updated figures from the same incident.

The strikes follow a series of attacks across Iraq since Saturday, including airstrikes on Jurf al-Nasr in Babil and drone attacks near Erbil Air Base, following coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes inside Iran and subsequent missile and drone launches across the region.