US AIRSTRIKES have killed a top Iranian military commander, according to US and Iraqi officials. Major-General Qassem Soleimani, widely seen as the second most powerful man in Iran, was killed following a US missile attack at Baghdad’s international airport. Iraqi officials and the state television reported that aside from Soleimani, Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack.
Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) umbrella grouping of Iran-backed militias, also confirmed the deaths of Soleimani and Muhandis.
He told Reuters: “The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani,”
Sources from the PMF told Al_Jazeera that the US rockets destroyed two vehicles carrying “high-profile guests”, who had arrived at the airport and were being escorted by a PMF official.
The rockets landed near the air cargo terminal, burning two vehicles and killing a total of seven people.
A statement from the US Department of Defence said: “Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.”
Soleimani headed up the Quds Force, becoming its commanding officer in 1998.
The Quds Force is a special division of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that is tasked with carrying out unconventional warfare and intelligence activities abroad.
The Major-General had been a constant thorn in the side of the US and its Middle Eastermn allies, Israel and Saudia Arabia, helping to spread Iranian influence across the region.
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