Funeral prayer of Iranian General being offered in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: The funeral prayer of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in an airstrike by the US is being offered in Baghdad today.

Many people have joined the formal funeral processions for Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, including Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and six others in Baghdad earlier on Friday.

Mourners were dressed in black and have raised the flags of the powerful paramilitary group Hashd al-Shaabi.

The news was confirmed by the United States Department of Defense, the Pentagon of an airstrike that killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, who was the head of the elite Quds Force.

It also added that Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack US diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.

Soleimani, led the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guards and has had a key role in fighting in Syria and Iraq, acquired celebrity status at home and abroad. He became head of the Quds Force in 1998.

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It is said that the reported killings of Soleimani and Mohandis are a major escalation that would likely cause a war between Iran and the US.