An explosion at a military base in Iraq

A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior told AFP that the explosions hit warehouses of military equipment, weapons and vehicles around midnight on Saturday.

Reuters news agency learned from two sources at a hospital in the nearby town of Hilla that one person was killed and six wounded.

The military base is located near Alexandria in Babil Governorate and is used by the Iraqi state-backed Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces militia, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Today the Popular Mobilization Forces are integrated into the Iraqi army as an official security force, but at the time they began as a group composed of various armed factions, many with close links to Iran, with the aim of fighting ISIS.

During the Gaza War, the Popular Mobilization Forces factions participated in missile and drone attacks against American forces deployed in Iraq, but they stopped the attacks in February, according to Reuters.

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– Air strikes

Later Saturday evening, the Popular Mobilization Forces issued a statement saying the militia was investigating what happened.

– The explosion led to material destruction and casualties. He did not mention the number of wounded.

Two Iraqi defense sources told Reuters it was an air strike.

AFP sources in the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad did not have information on Saturday evening about who was behind the attack, nor were they able to determine whether it was a drone attack.

The situation is tense

The US Central Command (Centcom) stated that US forces did not carry out any attack in Iraq.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred at a time of intense regional tensions related to the war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, a military base in Iran was subjected to what is believed to be an Israeli attack.