ISTANBUL

A fighter with Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) was killed, and two others were wounded in an airstrike that struck the group’s positions in northern Iraq on Thursday, the force said.

In a statement on the US social media company Facebook, the PMF said the fourth regiment of the 30th Brigade came under what it described as a “treacherous” US-Israeli airstrike targeting its positions in the Nineveh Plain earlier in the day.

The group said the attack killed one fighter and left two others injured.

The PMF, also known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, was originally formed on June 14, 2014, as a volunteer force supporting Iraqi security forces in the fight against the ISIS (Daesh) terror group. It was formally incorporated into the armed forces by a government decree in July 2016.

The attack comes as the US and Israel have continued a joint offensive on Iran since Feb. 28, killing so far around 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.