Senior Iran Commander Killed By Drone In Iraq

Senior commander Abu Baqir al-Saadi of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq that the Pentagon linked to an attack that killed three U.S. troops, died in a drone strike on a vehicle in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday night, two security sources said.

One of the sources said three people were killed and that the vehicle targeted was used by Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state security agency composed of dozens of armed groups, many of them close to Iran.

Kataib Hezbollah fighters and commanders are part of the PMF. Three U.S. troops were killed in January in a drone attack near the Jordan-Syria border that the Pentagon said bore the "footprints" of Kataib Hezbollah. The group then announced it was suspending military operations against U.S. troops in the region.

On Wednesday, Iraqi special forces were on high alert in Baghdad and further units were deployed inside the Green Zone housing international diplomatic missions including the U.S. embassy, a security source said.