BREAKING NEWS: Powerful leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force military unit is killed in missile strike on Baghdad airport that left at least six others dead including top militiaman behind U.S. embassy attack

• Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, was killed Friday in Baghdad
• Missiles obliterated vehicles carrying Soleimani and Iraqi Shiite militiamen
• Pro-Iran militia Popular Mobilization Forces blames the US for the attack
• PMF deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was among those killed
• He was one of the leaders of the attack on the US embassy in Baghdad
• Local security official describes the attack as a coordinated airstrike

Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, the powerful head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has been killed in an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport, Iraqi TV and three Iraqi officials officials said Friday.

The officials said the strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, which were responsible for the recent attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

An official with the PMF blamed the U.S. military for the strike. ‘The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani,’ said Ahmed al-Assadi, a PMF spokesman.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that strikes had been carried out against two targets linked to Iran in Baghdad on Thursday but declined to give any further details.

American officials have made no public comments on the strike yet. The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to inquiries from DailyMail.com. Soon after news of the strike spread, President Donald Trump tweeted an image of an American flag, offering no remarks or explanation.

The audacious airport strike is a potential turning point in the Middle East as U.S.-Iran relations teeter on the brink, and is expected to draw severe retaliation from Iran and and its Shiite allies against Israel and American interests.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk …