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Iraqis ‘dancing in streets’ over death of Qasem Soleimani, tweets US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
The United States killed Iran’s top general and the architect of Tehran’s proxy wars in the Middle East in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said on Friday that Iraqis are celebrating the death of top Iran commander Qasem Soleimani by “dancing in streets”.
“Iraqis - Iraqis - dancing in the street for freedom; thankful that General Soleimani is no more,” Secretary Pompeo said while sharing a video of people holding a rally.
Watch | Soleimani killing: Iraqis ‘dancing in the streets,’ says Mike Pompeo
In the 22-second video which Pompeo shared on Twitter, people are seen running on a road carrying a several meter-long Iraq national flag. The video is of some unspecified location in Iraq.
The United States killed Iran’s top general and the architect of Tehran’s proxy wars in the Middle East in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday.
The Pentagon said that US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani, who died in Baghdad “in a decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad”.
The US Defence Department said it killed Soleimani because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region”. It also accused Soleimani of approving the attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week.
Following Soleimani’s death, Trump tweeted an image of the US flag without any further explanation.
The strike, which occurred at Baghdad’s international airport on Friday in Iraq, also killed the deputy chief of Iraq’s powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.
