Iraqi PM-designate to form committee probing Gen. Soleimani assassination

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iraq’s Kata'ib Hezbollah resistance group says Prime Minister-designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi has agreed to form a committee to probe the US assassination of Iran’s top anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

In a statement on Thursday, the group said the decision was taken after al-Kadhimi, currently the director of Iraq's National Intelligence Service, requested to have a meeting with the group to explain his position on the assassination.

The formation of the committee was decided during the meeting, the statement said, adding that “we requested that the work of the committee be done with complete transparency”.

The US assassinated General Soleimani, alongside a number of his comrades, including deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in the Iraqi capital in early January.

Iran responded a few days later by firing salvos of missiles at two US-occupied bases in Iraq’s western Anbar Province and Kurdistan regional capital, Erbil.

The Iraqi parliament also responded by voting in favor of a bill demanding the expulsion of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country.

Iraqi resistance groups have vowed to take up armed resistance against US military presence in the country if Washington fails to comply with the parliament’s order.

Also in its statement on Thursday, Kata'ib Hezbollah said the group has documents about certain sides implicated in the assassination.

“We cannot overlook the necessity of requesting an investigation into this crime and having legal proceedings and revenge for those implicated in it,” the statement added.

It also stressed that Washington bears responsibility for any “consequences of this horrible crime”.

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