An airstrike attributed to a US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II hit a military clinic at the Habbaniyah base in western Iraq on March 25, 2026, killing seven Iraqi soldiers and wounding 13 others, in what Baghdad called a serious breach of international law. The incident prompted a diplomatic confrontation.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry said the strike targeted a military clinic and an engineering unit at the base in Anbar province, west of Baghdad. The ministry added that the aircraft fired again as rescue teams worked at the site.
The Habbaniyah base is shared by Iraq’s regular army and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state-affiliated paramilitary network that includes brigades with ties to Iran. A senior Iraqi military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a PMF facility sits near the army medical unit that was struck.
US forces have been conducting strikes against Iran-aligned PMF factions since the start of Operation Epic Fury, the US military campaign against Iran launched on February 28, 2026.
The strike came two days after a separate attack on the same base killed 15 PMF fighters, including a senior provincial commander. Neither the US nor Israel claimed responsibility for either strike.
The A-10 Thunderbolt II, known as the Warthog, has been among the aircraft used in Operation Epic Fury against Iran-aligned militia positions in Iraq. The aircraft operates at low altitude and carries a 30mm rotary cannon