Iraq military backtracks on claims of US air strike north of Baghdad

Iraq military backtracks on claims of US air strike north of Baghdad
The strike targeted a convoy of Popular Mobilization Forces medics near Taji stadium in Baghdad. (File/AFP)
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Updated 05 January 2020
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Iraq military backtracks on claims of US air strike north of Baghdad

Iraq military backtracks on claims of US air strike north of Baghdad
  • The air strikes come a day after Iranian official Qassem Soleimani was killed
  • Iraqi army sources said 6 were killed and 3 wounded in the attack

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s military denied on Saturday an air strike had taken place on a medical convoy in Taji, north of Baghdad.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of paramilitary groups had said earlier on Saturday said that an air strike targeting its fighters hit a convoy of medics. Iraqi state television had said they were US air strikes.

However, the PMF later issued another statement saying that no medical convoys were targeted in Taji.

The US-led coalition fighting Daesh also said on Saturday it did not conduct any air strikes near Camp Taji.

"FACT: the coalition ... did not conduct airstrikes near Camp Taji (north of Baghdad) in recent days," a spokesman said on twitter.

A US air strike on Baghdad airport on Friday killed Qassem Soleimani, Tehran's most prominent military commander and the architect of its growing influence in the Middle East, and the leader of Iraq's PMF Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis.

The overnight attack was authorised by US President Donald Trump.