US AIRSTRIKES have killed a top Iranian military commander, according to US and Iraqi officials. Major-General Qassem Soleimani, widely seen as the second most powerful man in Iran, was killed following a US missile attack at Baghdad’s international airport. Iraqi officials and the state television reported that aside from Soleimani, Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack.

Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) umbrella grouping of Iran-backed militias, also confirmed the deaths of Soleimani and Muhandis.

Sources from the PMF told Al_Jazeera that the US rockets destroyed two vehicles carrying “high-profile guests”, who had arrived at the airport and were being escorted by a PMF official.

More to follow…

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