Qasem Soleimani, Head Of Iran’s Quds Force, Killed In US Airstrike At Baghdad Airport: Report

Qasem Soleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard, has been killed in a United States’ airstrike at Baghdad airport in Iraq, media has reported.

Iraqi State television said Soleimani was among a number of people killed in a strike near Baghdad's airport, reports BBC.

According to the report, the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, told news agency Reuters that Major General Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis had been killed.

The US Department of Defence (DoD) has also confirmed killing of Soleimani in a “decisive defensive action”.

“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” the DoD said in a statement.

“General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more,” the statement added.

The strike comes days after protesters surrounded the US embassy in Baghdad, clashing with American forces at the scene.

US defence secretary Mark Esper said late on Thursday (27 December) that the US would not accept attacks against its personnel in the region, blaming Iran for the violence at the embassy.