Suspected US helicopters strike PMF checkpoint in Nineveh

MOSUL — What are believed to be U.S. helicopters targeted a Popular Mobilization Forces checkpoint Friday evening in northwestern Nineveh Governorate, according to local sources.

The checkpoint was operated by armed faction Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and the 34th Brigade affiliated with the Badr Organization, the sources said.

Fire and ambulance vehicles were dispatched to the site following the strike, though details on casualties or damage were not immediately available.

Local sources also reported hearing 14 explosions across Mosul city in four separate waves, though further details were not immediately known.

U.S. forces have carried out strikes on several locations associated with the Popular Mobilization Forces and other armed factions in Iraq in recent days. Since the start of the war between the United States, Israel and Iran on Feb. 28, several Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups have participated in attacks across the region, particularly through drone strikes targeting locations linked to U.S. forces and their allies.

Some of these groups, operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq — an umbrella label used by Iran-aligned factions including Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba — have claimed responsibility for multiple drone attacks on the Kurdistan Region and beyond.