BAGHDAD—Unidentified warplanes carried out multiple strikes near Iraq’s western town of al-Qaim early Monday, killing three fighters from the Iran-aligned Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and two Iraqi federal police officers, security officials said.
An Iraqi interior-ministry spokesman told reporters the first explosion struck a PMF checkpoint shortly after 2 a.m. local time, followed minutes later by a second blast that hit a police patrol responding to the scene. “All five martyrs were on duty; another seven personnel are wounded and receiving treatment in Ramadi,” the spokesman said.
No group has claimed responsibility. However, a senior military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media, said the pattern of precision strikes resembled previous U.S. or Israeli operations against Iranian-backed militias operating along the Iraqi-Syrian border corridor.
The attack comes one month after U.S. and Israeli forces launched a coordinated barrage against targets inside Iran on 28 February, an escalation that regional analysts say has turned Iraq into an expanding battleground for proxy engagements. “The border region is a strategic artery for Iran’s supply lines to Syria and Lebanon,” said Lina Khatib, a fellow at the Middle East Institute. “Whenever tensions flare with Tehran, al-Qaim is usually among the first places to feel the impact.”
Washington has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. A Pentagon spokesperson told SourceRated the United States “did not conduct strikes inside Iraq last night,” adding that American forces stationed at Ain al-Asad airbase were placed on heightened alert after the explosions.
Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council and ordered the foreign ministry to lodge complaints with both the United Nations and the U.S.-led coalition. “Violations of Iraqi sovereignty will not be tolerated,” a statement from his office read.
Markets in Baghdad opened lower on fears that fresh violence could jeopardise fragile oil export negotiations with the United States. Crude shipments from the northern Kirkuk fields were briefly halted as a precaution, according to an oil ministry official.
Looking ahead, diplomats warn that any miscalculation could derail efforts to restart stalled talks between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear programme. “Every strike and counter-strike raises the risk of a broader regional war,” said one European envoy involved in the mediation. “Without an agreed de-confliction mechanism inside Iraq, the next escalation may be harder to contain.”