Photos have emerged online showing the under-construction Karbala International Airport, expected to be Iraq’s largest airport once completed, having been crippled by the US airstrike on Thursday night, RT reported.
The strike shattered windows in what appears to be one of the airport’s main buildings, and debris could be seen scattered on the ground.
An airport official confirmed to Reuters that the facility sustained a direct hit from US forces.
Unconfirmed reports suggest a construction worker may have been killed in the raid, which the Pentagon insisted earlier was conducted with “precision” and for purely defensive purposes.
The US military claimed that it targeted “five weapon storage facilities” allegedly operated by Iraq’s Kata'ib Hezbollah forces – part of the country's paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – a group the US has blamed for attacks on its forces in Iraq.