BAGHDAD – The United States (US) has killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and spearhead of Iran’s spreading military influence in the Middle East, on Friday in an air strike at Baghdad airport, the Pentagon said.
“This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans,” it added.
Top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an adviser to Soleimani, was also killed in the attack, a militia spokesman said.
Iran and the US have been locked in a long conflict that escalated sharply last week with an attack on the US Embassy in Iraq by pro-Iranian militiamen following a US air raid on the Kataib Hezbollah militia, which was founded by Muhandis.(Reuters)
