BAGHDAD, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi authorities announced Saturday the suspension of trade and passenger movement at the southern Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran following a strike that left one person dead and five others injured.
Omar al-Waeli, head of Iraq's Border Ports Commission, told the official Iraqi News Agency that the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran was targeted in the morning.
He said the strike hit the passenger hall, killing an Iraqi passenger and injuring five others, adding that the victims were transported to a hospital inside Iran.
According to Iraqi media, the strike coincided with the entry of donation and logistical support convoys into Iran through the crossing.
The Shalamcheh crossing, located in southern Iraq's Basra province, is a primary artery for trade and tourism between Iraq and Iran.
Meanwhile, Iraq's paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said Saturday that one of its members was killed, and four others wounded in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike at the al-Qaim border crossing in western Anbar province.
The PMF said its 45th Brigade was attacked at the border crossing in the al-Qaim area near Syria, adding that a member of the Iraqi defense ministry was also injured.
The attacks came amid heightened regional tensions following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting on Feb. 28, to which Iran and its regional allies responded with attacks on Israeli and U.S. interests across the Middle East. ■
