Strike kills four Iran-backed fighters, anger mounts in Iraq

An Israeli emergency service officer walks past the debris of building at the scene of a missile attack near Bet Shemesh, some 30 kilometres west of Jerusalem on March 1, 2026. [AFP

Four Iran-backed fighters were killed on Sunday when their base in Iraq was struck as the region became embroiled in violence after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

The fighters belong to the Hashed al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an alliance of factions now integrated into the regular army, which also include powerful Iran-backed groups.

Baghdad, a key ally of Iran, has announced a three-day mourning period for Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on Tehran on Saturday.

Iraq, which has recently regained a sense of stability but has long been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, warned that it did not want to be dragged into the war.

But it did not remain unscathed.

An Iraqi security official told AFP that an air strike in the central Diyala province killed four fighters from the PMF, with another eight injured.

A PMF source confirmed "the martyrdom of four fighters in an attack on their base" in Diyala.

The Hashed al-Shaabi later said the fighters were killed in a "Zionist-American bombing", and posted photos from their funeral, where mourners carried Iranian and Iraqi flags.

Earlier Sunday, Iran, which has been targeting the Gulf states and Israel with a barrage of missiles, said it also hit US bases in Iraq's Kurdistan.

US defence systems later intercepted at least two drones over the city of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, which hosts US-led coalition troops, an AFP journalist said.

Explosions were heard and smoke was visible in the sky, the journalist reported from near the US consulate in Erbil.

Like the US, Iran wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, while also backing armed groups whose power has grown both politically and financially.

Several Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups said Saturday they would not remain "neutral" and would defend the Islamic republic.

The powerful group Kataeb Hezbollah said it would attack US bases after two of its fighters were killed in air strikes in southern Iraq.

Also Saturday, US-led coalition forces downed several missiles and explosive-laden drones over Erbil, local authorities said.

Pro-Iran groups later said they launched dozens of drones against "the enemy bases in Iraq and the region", without providing further details.

The US embassy in Iraq urged its nationals to limit movement and be ready to shelter after "reports of missiles, drones or rockets in Iraqi airspace".

On Sunday, hundreds of protesters, many masked and dressed in black, tried to storm Baghdad's Green Zone to get to the US embassy.

They chanted "for you Khamenei" and hurled stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas, AFP journalists reported.

Abu Ali al-Kanani, 56, who was leading a group of protesters, said "we are here to demand the expulsion of the Americans and the closure of the embassy of evil -- America that killed Ayatollah Khamenei".

Calls were renewed for protests near the embassy later in the evening.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, himself born in Iran, mourned Khamenei, and said that "the great Iranian people are expected to maintain their unity, to stand firm and thwart the aggressors' sinister goals."