Explosions rock Iraqi militia arms depot near air base housing US personnel
Kata’ib Imam Ali is part of the umbrella Hashd al-Shaabi organization, which is mainly composed of Shia entities backed by Iran. It was not immediately clear what type of weapons, rockets, and missiles, if any, were stored at the facility or whether said equipment belonged to any other militia group.
The Iraqi army operates another arms storage unit nearby. This incident reportedly marks a fourth of the sort, with repeated claims that Israeli planes had been behind the first two.
Related Article: Israel attacks Iranian targets in Iraq
The spokesperson of Iraq’s defense ministry, Tahsin Khafaji, told Kurdistan 24 that “the source of the attack” is unknown at the time. He affirmed that the military was forming an investigation committee to look into it.
“The Iraqi army’s base and weapons and ammunition depot are safe and were not damaged,” he added.
According to Reuters, citing a militia source, the explosion was due to an “aerial bombardment.” However, no entity has officially claimed responsibility for the latest blast and previous ones of a similar nature. Observers have also noted that they could be due to improper storage of ordnances at such facilities.