Baghdad: Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed early on Friday in an air strike on their convoy at Baghdad airport.
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella grouping of Iran-backed militias blamed the United States for the attack. "The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani," said Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for Iraq's PMF.
Three rockets hit Baghdad International Airport, killing five members of Iraqi paramilitary groups and two "guests", Iraqi paramilitary groups said on Friday. The rockets landed near the air cargo terminal, burning two vehicles, killing and injuring several people.
Who was Soleimani?
Suleimani was commander of the Quds Force,the external wing of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who ran Iranian military operations in Iraq and Syria. The Trump administration had classified the IRGC as a terror organisation last April.
Soleimani, who has fashioned himself as a "fighter against the Islamic State and Al Qaeda", managed to build up a rockstar image in his home nation. He even had a huge following on Instagram. His profile rose suddenly when he was pushed forward as the public face of Iran's intervention in the Syrian conflict from 2013, appearing in battlefield photos, documentaries—and even being featured in a music video and animated film.
Soleimani had been rumoured dead several times, including in a 2006 airplane crash that killed other military officials in northwestern Iran and following a 2012 bombing in Damascus that killed top aides of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.
More recently, rumours circulated in November 2015 that Soleimani was killed or seriously wounded leading forces loyal to Assad as they fought around Syria's Aleppo.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a close Suleimani associate who was killed in the attack, was the deputy head of PMF. PMF, responsible for fighting major battles against the Islamic State, is now called the Iraqi Republican Guard.
Pentagon confirms attack
The Pentagon confirmed that strikes had been carried out against two targets linked to Iran in Baghdad under the directive the United States President Donald Trump. It was a defensive action taken to protect US personnel abroad, the statement said.
The US embassy in Baghdad had been attacked by protesters a few days ago leading to a clash with US forces.
"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. 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, it alleged.
It said that General Soleimani had "orchestrated" attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months - including the attack on December 27 - culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel.
General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad that took place this week, it said.
The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world, it said.
Iran's response
Their deaths are a potential turning point in the Middle East and are expected to draw severe retaliation from Iran and the forces it backs in the Middle East against Israel and American interests.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed "severe revenge" after the attack.
"Martyrdom was the reward for his ceaseless efforts in all these years," Khamenei said on his Farsi-language Twitter account in reference to Soleimani, also declaring three days of mourning.
"With him gone, God willing, his work and his path will not be stopped, but severe revenge awaits the criminals who bloodied their foul hands with his blood and other martyrs' in last night's incident," he said.
"The US' act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation. The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism," Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted following the attack.
Al-Muhandis had arrived to the airport in a convoy to receive Soleimani whose plane had arrived from either Lebanon or Syria. The airstrike occurred as soon as he descended from the plane to be greeted by al-Muhandis and his companions, killing them all.
Soleimani's body was identified by the ring he wore, a senior politician confirmed on condition of anonymity.
(With inputs from Reuters, AP, PTI.)