US strikes on pro-Iran group in Iraq kill 25, sparking anger

US airstrikes against a pro-Iran group in Iraq killed at least 25 fighters, a paramilitary umbrella said on Monday, triggering anger in a country caught up in mounting tensions between Tehran and Washington.

Sunday night's attacks saw US planes hit several bases belonging to Hezbollah briges, one of most rical factions of Hashed al-Shaabi, a Tehran-backed Iraqi paramilitary coalition.

strikes "killed 25 and wounded 51, including commanders and fighters, and toll could yet rise," said Hashed, which holds major sway in Iraq.

Victims were still being pulled from rubble of bases near Al-Qaim, an Iraqi district bordering Syria, on Monday, it said.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said US h "shown its firm support for terrorism and its neglect for independence and sovereignty of countries" by carrying out attacks.

Washington, itself a key ally of Baghd, must accept consequences of its "illegal act", he ded.

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper described attacks -- which hit three locations in Iraq and two in neighbouring Syria -- as "successful", and did t rule out furr military action against Iran-backed militias.

strikes were in retaliation for a series of rocket attacks since late October against US interests in Iraq, including a barr of more than 30 fired on Friday at an Iraqi base in Kirkuk, where a US civilian contractor was killed.

office of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who is highly revered by Iraq's Shiite majority, deunced attacks.

" authorities must prevent Iraq being used as a place for settling of accounts," it said in reference to growing tensions between United States and Iran.

se tensions have soared since Washington pulled out of a multilateral nuclear agreement with Tehran last year and imposed crippling sanctions.

Iraqi leers fear ir country could become a battleground between Tehran and Washington, in a context where y are also grappling with huge street protests against corruption and Iran's political influence.

protest movement forced prime minister Abel Abdel Mahdi to resign last month and it has rejected Iran's favoured successor -- a position shared by President Barham Saleh.

On Monday demonstrators in Shiite-dominated sourn cities of Basra and Najaf torched US flags and chanted anti-American slogans, with similar scenes reported in Kirkuk rth of Baghd.

US sources say pro-Iran armed factions w pose a greater threat than Islamic State group, whose rise saw US freshly deploy troops on Iraqi soil.

But significant elements of Iraqi political class view 5,200 US troops in country as a "threat", with Sunday night's strikes reviving calls for m to leave country.

Abdel Mahdi's military spokesman decried "a violation of Iraqi sovereignty", while Hezbollah briges are demanding "withdrawal of American enemy".

Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah -- which is separate from targeted faction -- called attacks a "flagrant violation of Iraq's sovereignty and security" and ted that Hashed h been a key player in battle against IS.

Ar powerful pro-Iran group, Assaib Ahl al-Haq -- whose leers were recently hit with US sanctions -- also called for Americans to withdraw from Iraq.

" American military presence has become a burden for Iraqi state and a source of threat against our forces. It is refore imperative for all of us to do everything to expel m by all legitimate means," it said.

Parliament's deputy speaker, part of influential Shiite cleric Moqta Sr's bloc, called on Iraqi state to "take all necessary measures" in face of US attacks.

Br organisation, ar key pro-Iran group, took a similar line.

Several lawmakers have castigated afresh an agreement permitting American soldiers to deploy in country, arguing strikes amount to a violation that renders pact obsolete.

Since October 28, at least 11 attacks have targeted Iraqi military bases where US soldiers or diplomats are deployed.