TEHRAN — Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi on Friday condemned the assassination of IRGC Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU), in a U.S. airstrike at the Baghdad International Airport.

The airstrike was an act of aggression on Iraq and breach of its sovereignty that will lead to war in Iraq, the region and the world, Abdul-Mahdi said in a statement, Daily Sabah reported.

He said, “the two martyrs were huge symbols of the victory” against the Daesh (ISIS) terrorist group.

Abdul-Mahdi also said the strike was an outrageous breach of the conditions for the presence of U.S. forces in the country.

He invited parliament to convene an extraordinary session, calling on them to take legislative actions that would safeguard Iraq’s dignity, security, and sovereignty.

The IRGC announced in a statement on Friday morning that General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), were martyred in the attack.

The Iraqi pro-government group also confirmed the incident. 

“The deputy head of the Hashed, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and head of the Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, were killed in a U.S. strike that targeted their car on the Baghdad International Airport road,” it said in a statement on Friday.

Iraqi President Barham Salih condemned the attack and urged restraint from all parties.

Iraq must put its national interest first and avoid the tragedies of armed conflict that have plagued it over four decades, he said in a statement.

Qassem Soleimani’s assassination drew widespread condemnation from across the world.

Kashmiri people in city of Kargil staged a massive protest, while carrying placards that read ”down with the USA”.

The shouted slogans against the US and Israeli regimes during the demonstration and condemned the U.S. airstrike.

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