AN AIR strike on the logistical support headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad today killed a high-ranking militia commander, militia officials said.

The attack comes amid mounting regional tensions and coincides with a push by Iraqi officials for US-led coalition forces to leave the country.

The Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), a coalition of militias that is nominally under the control of the Iraqi military, announced in a statement that its deputy head of operations in Baghdad, Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, had been killed “as a result of brutal American aggression.”

It was not immediately clear who had carried out the strike.

Iraqi military spokesman Yehia Rasool said in a statement that the Iraqi army “holds the International Coalition Forces responsible for this unprovoked attack on an Iraqi security body operating in accordance with the powers granted to it by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.”

The US-led coalition is in the country to counter the periodic attacks by Isis in the country.

The PMF, a group of Iranian-backed, primarily Shi’ite militias, also has been fighting against the Sunni extremist group after it over-ran much of Iraq in 2014.

The air strike comes just days after Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq officials said that two suicide drone attacks allegedly by the PMF late Saturday hit the key headquarters of Peshmerga forces in Pirmam, Irbil.

“Previously, the militias claimed to target only the coalition forces. But it turns out that they are also targeting the Peshmerga, Irbil and the Kurdistan region,” Governor Omed Khoshnaw told VOA news.

“The attack on the Peshmerga is a dangerous development and we expect the Iraqi government to take a decisive stance.”

“The Kurdistan Regional Government will not stand inert.”