Five Injured in Baghdad Depot Blast

Five people were injured in an explosion on October 17 at a Popular Mobilization Forces base in Baghdad's East Canal area, according to reports from the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.

The blast occurred at a headquarters site where the paramilitary group stores obsolete ammunition. The PMF initially described the event as an accident, and the Iraqi government promised to investigate the cause.

Sources told the newspaper that Iraqi authorities believe Israel was responsible for the strike. The attack reportedly targeted two locations where Iranian-backed militias had stored shoulder-fired air defense systems of Chinese origin.

The report did not identify the specific Chinese model involved. It also noted that authorities had not presented definitive evidence for their claims and acknowledged that parts of the findings remained unconfirmed.

One source stated that the armed group selected the storage location because it was difficult to reach or detect. The suspected attacks happened shortly after the shipments arrived at both sites.

The October 17 incident followed a separate blast on October 1 that affected warehouses linked to Iran-backed groups in and around Baghdad. Those warehouses reportedly held drones designed for suicide attacks and reconnaissance missions.

A security official said Iraqi authorities had not determined the exact nature of the October 1 strikes but believed Israel was behind them based on available evidence.

This is not the first time Iraq has attributed attacks to Israel. Iranian-backed militias previously blamed Israel for strikes in 2019 and for an attack in Albukamal, Syria, near the Iraqi border.

In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel established a secret airstrip in Iraq during its campaign against Iran. Asharq Al-Awsat also cited unconfirmed accounts of Israeli fighter jets flying through Iraqi airspace near the Iranian border with the support of midair refuelers.

Iran has supplied Iraqi militias with missiles and drones for years. The groups carried out numerous attacks on Israel after the war began in October 2023. Since US and Israeli airstrikes began in February, Iran has used Iraq as a frontline, launching more than 1,000 strikes on the Kurdistan Region and 600 attacks across Iraq, some targeting US diplomatic sites.

The US withdrew its forces from Iraq on September 30, a deadline agreed with Baghdad. Washington has warned Americans against traveling to Baghdad. China's Foreign Ministry denied reports on July 28 that it was supplying weapons to Iran, a connection the newspaper described as unconfirmed.

A source in the Shi'ite Coordination Framework said ruling party leaders had spent weeks predicting that renewed war between Washington and Tehran would start with the destruction of Iraqi factions' capabilities. Most major PMF groups, except the Badr Organization, are sanctioned by the US as terrorist organizations. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of militias, published a statement claiming Iraqi airspace was being violated.