A high-profile member of the Iraqi anti-terror Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq resistance group has been fatally shot by unidentified assailants in the southeastern province of Maysan.
A security source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Iraq’s Shafaq News Agency that two gunmen ambushed Naji al-Ka’abi, better known by the nom de guerre Abu Ali al-Ka’abi, and opened fire at him as he was driving a car along a road in the al-Askari district of the province late on Sunday.
The armed men then fled the scene on a motorbike, and a search is underway to hunt them down.
An extensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Ka’abi, who was in charge of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq public relations bureau in Maysan, has also been launched.
Qais al-Khazali, secretary general of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq group, has strongly condemned the deadly attack, calling on his fellow fighters to exercise self-restraint and urging Maysan provincial officials to provide details about the incident.
He asked authorities in the southern Iraqi province to capture thugs and rogue elements and uproot criminal gangs wreaking havoc there.
Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq is a part of the Iraqi anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units, better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’ab.
Hashd al-Sh’abai (PMU) fighters have played a major role in the liberation of Daesh-held areas to the south, northeast and north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad ever since the terrorists launched an offensive in the country in June 2014.
Back in 2016, the Iraqi parliament approved a law giving full legal status to the PMU fighters. It recognized the PMU as part of the national armed forces, placed the forces under the command of the prime minister, and granted them the right to receive salaries and pensions like the regular army and police forces.
Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq is staunchly opposed to the presence of American occupation troops, who are required to leave Iraq under a resolution passed by the Arab country’s parliament on January 5, 2020.
It was approved two days after the US assassinated Iran’s anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Hashd al-Sha’abi, two influential figures in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group.
However, Washington has been dragging its feet on the troop pullout and targeting anti-terror groups from time to time.
