Several roadside bomb attacks have targeted convoys carrying logistical equipment belonging to the US military south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and in the country’s southern province of Muthanna, amid strong public opposition to the prolonged presence of American occupation forces on Iraqi soil.
Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, reported that an explosion hit trucks belonging to US forces in Baghdad’s southern Hur Rajab area at 7:30 a.m. local time (04:30 GMT) on Tuesday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Shortly afterward, a bomb attack targeted a logistics convoy of US forces in the town of Adwaniyah.
Iraqi resistance group Ulul al-‘Azm later claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Another explosive device went off near the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, located 280 kilometers (174 miles) southeast of Baghdad, early on Tuesday as vehicles of the US military forces were passing by.
The blast reportedly did not leave any casualties and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
The attacks come as anti-American sentiments have been on the rise in Iraq since the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, second-in-command of the PMU, as well as their companions in a US drone strike authorized by former US president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
Two days after the attack, Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill that requires the government to end the presence of all foreign military forces led by the US in the country.
Both commanders were highly revered across the Middle East because of their key role in fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
On January 8, 2020, the IRGC targeted the US-run Ain al-Asad in Iraq’s western province of Anbar by launching a volley of missiles in retaliation.
According to the Pentagon, more than 100 American forces suffered “traumatic brain injuries” during the counterstrike on the base.
Iran has described the missile attack on Ain al-Assad as a “first slap”.
Source: Agencies