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BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi security officials and local armed factions said on Monday that an airstrike killed a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the Syrian-Iraqi border sometime on Saturday and Sunday.
Authorities were unable to determine the identity of the commander, who said he was killed along with three other men who were with him in the same car.
Two Iraqi security officials said separately that the vehicle was carrying weapons across the Iraqi border and was hit after entering Syrian territory.
The two officials added that Iranian-backed Iraqi militias had helped recover the bodies. They did not give details or specify the exact moment of the accident.
Local military sources and sources from armed groups confirmed the story. Reuters could not independently verify that an Iranian leader had been assassinated.
The accident came just days after the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Tehran, in an incident for which Iran accused Israel of being responsible.
(Press coverage of Ahmed Rashid, John Davison and Kamal Al-Ayyash – Prepared by Mustafa Saleh for the Arab Bulletin – Edited by Muhammad Al-Yamani)
