Militant group Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq announces death of top security official

Iraq’s powerful armed group Kataeb Hezbollah on Monday said its senior security commander Abu Ali al-Askari had been killed, without providing details on the circumstances of his death.

The group’s leader Ahmad al-Hamidawi, also known as Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, said “we announce the martyrdom of Haj Abu Ali al-Askari”, without providing any details on how and when he was killed.

A security official told AFP that “Abu Ali al-Askari is Abu Ali al-Amiri, the commander who was killed in a strike on Baghdad on Saturday”.

Kataeb Hezbollah referred to Askari as the group’s security chief. He was also the spokesperson in charge of issuing all key statements in the group’s name. The last was released on March 7, following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

According to the group’s statement, Askari will be replaced by Abou Moujahed al-Assaf as the new security chief.

The Iran-backed group, designated by Washington as a “terrorist organisation”, is part of the umbrella movement known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has been claiming daily attacks on the US interests in Iraq and the region.

Since the start of the war, several attacks targeting members of those groups across Iraq have been blamed on the US and Israel.

AFP