BAGHDAD, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said Tuesday that three of its members were killed and several others wounded in a series of airstrikes attributed to U.S.-Israeli operations.
A PMF statement said its 17th Brigade in the Rutba area of western Anbar province was hit at 2:30 p.m. local time (1130 GMT), killing three fighters and wounding several others.
In separate strikes, the PMF said its 45th Brigade in Jurf al-Nasr, south of Baghdad, was hit by three airstrikes around midnight. Another strike targeted the 31st Brigade in western Anbar, and at 10:30 a.m., the PMF said the headquarters of its 30th Brigade in Nineveh was attacked in a "treacherous" strike.
Dozens of PMF members have been killed in similar operations over the past month, the group said.
Also Tuesday, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization for pro-Iranian militias, said it carried out 19 operations against "enemy bases" in Iraq and the region over the past 24 hours. The group has claimed hundreds of such attacks in the past month.
The attacks come amid heightened tensions following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran since Feb. 28, which prompted retaliatory attacks by Iran and its regional allies on U.S. and Israeli interests across the Middle East. ■
