By David S. Cloud
Iraq's government said it planned to lodge a protest with the U.S. over an attack Wednesday on a military clinic that Baghdad said killed seven soldiers and left another 13 wounded.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, said the military was looking into the incident. Iraq planned to summon the senior U.S. diplomat in Baghdad and hand him a "strongly worded" note condemning "the irresponsible actions that have amounted to this heinous crime," said the office of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
It was one of Sudani's first public acknowledgements that the U.S. has been conducting strikes in Iraq against militia groups since the war in neighboring Iran began. Sudani, who has previously denounced attacks without naming the U.S., has sought to maintain good relations with Washington but also faces pressure from politically powerful militia groups to halt the strikes.
Wednesday's strike occurred at a military base near the town of Habbaniyah in western Anbar province, Iraq's Defense Ministry said. It said the clinic and another location at the base "were subjected to a heinous airstrike followed by strafing from aircraft cannons."
The U.S. has hit militia bases and forces around Iraq since the start of the conflict and conducted at least one strike on the home of a militia leader in Baghdad, saying it was responding to attacks against the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and other incidents.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 25, 2026 08:31 ET (12:31 GMT)
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