Reuters, WASHINGTON and BAGHDADThe US military carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against the Kataib Hezbollah (KH) militia group in response to the killing of a US civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base, US officials said on Sunday. Iraqi security and militia sources said that at least 25 militia fighters were killed and at least 55 wounded following three US airstrikes in Iraq on Sunday. At least four local Kataib Hezbollah commanders were among the dead, the sources said, adding that one of the strikes had targeted the militia group’s headquarters near the western Qaim district on the border with Syria. The Pentagon said it had targeted three locations of the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militia group in Iraq and two in Syria. The locations included weapons storage facilities, and command and control locations the group had used to plan and execute attacks on coalition forces, it said.
