Airstrike hits PMF site in Kirkuk as Iran-linked tensions spill deeper into Iraq

CAIRO - 28 March 2026: Smoke was seen rising from the headquarters of Iraq’s Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces in Kirkuk on Saturday, March 28, after an airstrike hit a PMF site south of the city, according to army sources.

Security and PMF sources said at least three people were killed and six others were injured in the strike.

The attack came as the fallout from the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran continued to spread across the region, with Iraq increasingly drawn into the crisis. The escalation has brought a rise in attacks involving Iran-aligned militias and Kurdish forces, raising fears that the conflict is widening beyond its original front lines.

Since the start of the war, airstrikes have targeted positions linked to Iraq’s umbrella network of Iran-backed Shi’ite militias, known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces, as well as Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

The latest strike adds to pressure on Baghdad, which has been trying to keep Iraq from sliding deeper into a regional confrontation involving multiple armed factions operating across the country.

With violence now touching more parts of Iraq, concerns are growing that the conflict could further destabilise an already fragile security landscape.