A senior commander and 14 fighters of the former paramilitary group "Hashd al-Shaabi" were killed this morning in an airstrike in western Iraq, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
"Hashd al-Shaabi", an alliance of former paramilitary groups, also known as the "Popular Mobilization Forces", condemned the attack as the work of the United States.
In its first statement after the attack, the alliance called on "political forces to take responsibility and respond appropriately to the repeated American violations, as well as to take clear positions defending Iraq's sovereignty".
According to official figures, this is the deadliest airstrike in Iraq, where bombings attributed to the United States or Israel hit pro-Iranian factions or "Hashd al-Shaabi" fighters almost every day.
Among the victims of the American attack in Anbar province is Saad Dawai, commander of the group's operations in the vast province. The strike hit the headquarters of the "Hashd al-Shaabi" in the Habbaniya region, said a representative of the paramilitary alliance, who specified that the bombing hit the building during a command meeting. The representative added that 13 people were injured and several people were still under the rubble.
Anbar, populated mainly by Sunni Muslims, is Iraq's largest province. It borders Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The vast desert in the province often becomes an arena for operations against cells of jihadist fighters from the "Islamic State" group.
Baghdad regularly condemns attacks on the paramilitary alliance. The US Department of Defense acknowledged last week that helicopters were used for the first time to strike pro-Iranian groups in Iraq.