Airstrike kills 14 PMF fighters including Anbar operations commander

BAGHDAD — Fourteen Popular Mobilization Forces members, including Anbar operations commander Saad Daway al-Baiji, were killed Tuesday in an airstrike on a command headquarters, the PMF said.

The PMF mourned “a group of heroic mujahideen who were martyred alongside the commander of Anbar operations,” describing the strike as “a treacherous American airstrike” and “a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.” It said the dead “passed as men as they lived, steadfast on the path of sacrifice, loyal to the covenant, and walking the path of martyrdom in defense of Iraq and its people.”

In a separate strike, two fighters from the 47th Brigade were wounded in an airstrike on the Al-Jazeera Operations Command in Jurf al-Nasr, Babil governorate. The same site was struck four times Sunday, wounding one member of a medical unit.

Tuesday’s toll marks one of the deadliest single strikes on PMF personnel since the regional war began Feb. 28. Airstrikes have hit PMF positions across multiple governorates, killing dozens of fighters in total. Neither the United States nor Israel has publicly claimed responsibility for any of the strikes.

The deaths come as Saraya Awliya al-Dam claimed U.S. and NATO forces had completed a withdrawal from Victory Base near Baghdad International Airport, a claim that could not be independently verified.