A rocket hit a vehicle carrying high-ranking officials of an organization linked to the Revolutionary Guards occurred on Wednesday night in a district of eastern Baghdad.

As reported by residents of the Iraqi capital, at least two loud explosions were heard before the vehicle burst into flames.

“A drone fired three rockets at a 4×4 car” in the Mastal district of eastern Baghdad, a security source said on condition of anonymity. A second security source who confirmed the attack said the vehicle was carrying “a senior official of the Hasd as Shaabi” (“Popular Mobilization Units”), a coalition of former paramilitaries who have joined the regular Iraqi forces and includes armed pro-Iranian groups.

Three people, including two senior members of a pro-Iranian armed group, were killed in the attack, a security source and an official of the targeted group said. One of them was in charge of the “military file” in Syria, the organization official said.

The images from the spot are indicative:

Another video from a resident of Baghdad shows a car fully engulfed in flames, while it is believed that the Revolutionary Guards were inside the vehicle.

According to this interior ministry official, the strike targeted “two senior figures of Kataeb Hezbollah (or Hezbollah Brigades),” a powerful pro-Iranian Iraqi armed group that is part of the Hashd al-Shaabi. Kataeb Hezbollah has been involved in dozens of attacks against US troops and those of the international coalition against the jihadists in recent months.

An AFP photographer in this district saw a large deployment of security forces that had cordoned off the area.

Almost a week ago, the United States launched strikes in Syria and Iraq against targets of Iranian elite forces and pro-Iranian armed groups in retaliation for a January 28 drone strike that killed three American soldiers stationed at a US base of the Jordanian desert, on the border with Syria.

For weeks, Iraq has been unable to escape regional tensions, despite intense diplomatic efforts with its main American and Iranian partners.