SULAIMANI (ESTA) — An Iraqi paramilitary group said on Monday one of its ammunition depots came under drone attack near the southern city of Najaf.
It said that at least two separate attacks took place hitting the same depot around dawn, but gave no further details, according to Reuters.
The U.S.-led military coalition which supports Iraqi forces against Islamic State militants said it had not carried out any air strikes in Iraq or Syria in the last two days.
“The U.S./Coalition has the inherent right to self-defense. Force protection remains the highest priority of the @Coalition,” its spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto said in a tweet.
The group targeted is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, the state-affiliated paramilitary grouping, and is not viewed as one of the hardline pro-Iran factions that dominate the PMF.
The Iraqi military said it would form a committee to investigate the cause of an explosion in a cache of equipment belonging to the Imam Ali Division within the PMF.
It further said the air defenses did not record “any flight of a drone or others near the scene of the accident” in Najaf governorate.
