A US military strike killed a Kataib Hezbollah commander in Iraq on Wednesday evening who was responsible for attacks on US forces in the region, according to US Central Command.
The attack was carried out by a drone that hit a SUV in the Al-Mashtal, a predominantly Shia neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. The two people who were inside the vehicle have not been identified because the bodies were completely charred from a fire that erupted from the strike, local police officials said.
The identity of the commander has not yet been released, but three US officials told CNN that the US targeted Wisam Mohammed Saber al-Saedi. Additionally, A senior local security source and a senior source with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) told CNN that a senior leader with the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia was killed in the attack.
Kataib Hezbollah is considered the most powerful Iran-backed militia in Iraq and part of a state-sponsored consortium of militias in the country known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) — many of them Shia militias — that help maintain security there. fsenior leader with the Iran-backilled in the strike ked Kataib Hezbollah militia was killed in the attack.
Kataib Hezbollah released a statement mourning al-Saedi early Thursday morning (Baghdad time.) The militant group said al-Saedi’s death “calls us to remain steadfast in the jihadist approach.”
