1 killed, 18 wounded in US airstrikes in Iraq

Baghdad, Dec 26

A security member was killed and 18 people were wounded on Tuesday in US airstrikes on Iraqi security sites south of Baghdad, the Iraqi government said in a statement.

"The Iraqi government condemns the targetting of Iraqi security sites by the US side at Tuesday dawn, which led to the martyrdom of a security member and the injury of 18 people, including civilians," said the statement by the media office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani.

The attack was "a clear and unconstructive hostile act that contradicts the declared desire of the US side to strengthen relations with Iraq," it added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

"We stress that this step harms bilateral relations and will complicate ways to reach understanding through joint dialogue to end the presence of the international coalition, and, above all, it represents an unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty," the statement said.

An Iraqi official told Xinhua news agency that the US airstrikes hit bases of the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces in the provinces of Babil and Wasit in central Iraq, which led to human and material losses.

Earlier on Tuesday, the White House said that US President Joe Biden ordered the military to launch airstrikes against three locations utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq after a drone attack on Monday on a US base near Erbil Airport in northern Iraq wounded three US service members, one critically.

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