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Blasts hit Baghdad during funeral procession for slain Iranian military commander

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Several blasts rocked the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad on Saturday after a huge funeral procession for the slain Iranian military commander, Qasem Soleimani.

Soleimani was killed by a United States air strike on Thursday and the US president, Donald Trump, has defended the killing of the top Iranian military general.

According to him, Soleimani was killed for supporting terrorism.

However, Iranian leaders have vowed to avenge the killing.

A top official in Tehran said Americans will feel the effect of the dastardly act in years to come.

In response to Iranian threats of revenge, the US has sent 3,000 more troops to the Middle East and advised its citizens to leave Iraq.

On Saturday, a projectile hit the Green Zone near the US embassy while several more were fired north of the Iraqi capital at Balad air base, which houses US forces.

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But Iraqi security sources said nobody was hurt in the attacks.

The funeral procession which snaked through Baghdad and Iraq’s Shia Muslim holy cities preceded the return of Soleimani’s remains to Iran.

Iraqis also mourned the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi who commanded the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah group and was killed along with Soleimani, the BBC reports.

In another development, the group issued a warning to Iraqi security forces to “stay clear of American bases by a distance not less [than] 1,000m (0.6 miles) starting Sunday evening.

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