ISTANBUL 

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said Wednesday that two fighters were killed and four others injured in a US-Israeli airstrike in the northern Nineveh province.

In a statement carried by the state news agency INA, the PMF said the strike targeted its 53rd Brigade in Tal Afar district, west of the province.

The force, however, stressed that the attack “will not deter it from fulfilling its duties.”

The PMF is a state-sanctioned Iraqi security and military umbrella formed in 2014 following a religious edict by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to fight the ISIS (Daesh) terrorist group. It was formally integrated into Iraq’s armed forces in 2016.

Attacks on PMF sites, which have killed and wounded dozens of fighters in recent days, come amid a broader conflict involving the United States and Israel against Iran since Feb. 28.

Washington accuses some PMF factions of having ties to Iran, as Iraqi groups operating under what is known as the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” have claimed attacks against US bases in the region.

The US and Israel have maintained an air offensive on Iran since Feb. 28, killing so far over 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

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

*Writing by Rania Abushamala in Istanbul.