Airstrike was behind blast at pro-Iranian militia base in Baghdad

An airstrike was likely behind the explosions in a weapons depot belonging to an Iranian-backed Shiite militia south of Baghdad on Monday, an assessment by ImageSat International (ISI) found on Wednesday.

According to ISI, the warehouse which measured 140x180m belonged to the Hashd al-Shabi (Popular Mobilization) militia and was located within the Iraqi Al-Saqr military base.

“The main building is destroyed with significant collateral damage signs,” ISI said, adding that “based on the observed damage characteristics in this image, it is probable that the blast was caused by an airstrike followed by secondary explosions of the explosives stored in the place.”

#Iraq, South #Baghdad – #Iran-proxy Shiite-Iraqi militia weapons storage’s blast (12 August 2019) preliminary #damage assessment. #Before and #after #ISI #VISINT #IMINT #intelligence #assessment #BDA pic.twitter.com/0ClQCxaXX6

— ImageSat Intl. (@ImageSatIntl) August 14, 2019

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi visited a weapons depot belonging to an Iranian-backed Shiite militia south of Baghdad where an explosion and fire occurred on Monday as conflicting reports emerged about the cause of the incident, according to the international Arabic London-based newspaper A-Sharq Al-Awsat.

One person was killed and 29 others were injured in the explosion, according to Sky News Arabia.

Shortly afterward, shells fell in the Green Zone of Baghdad where the American Embassy in Iraq is located.

Israel hasn’t commented about the explosion.