Iraq..murder of an American citizen..and the Ahl al-Kahf Brigades claim responsibility for the incident

An armed militia calling itself “Saraya Ahl al-Kahf” announced yesterday that they were responsible for the murder of an American citizen last night in downtown Baghdad. The armed group said in a press release that the killing of US citizen “Stephen Troll” was “in retaliation for the killings of General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds force, and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization. Power” who were killed in a US drone attack near Baghdad airport in January 2020. And a media cell in the Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced last night that the Prime Minister of the Iraqi Government, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani, has instructed Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari to form a committee of specialized agencies of the ministry and other security agencies to investigate circumstances of the accident. “The committee was formed immediately after the accident to find out its details and causes, as well as to contact the perpetrators as soon as possible,” the report says. “According to our initial investigations and eyewitness accounts, the gunmen were trying to kidnap an American citizen,” said an Iraqi police major. Another police source said the victim had an identification card showing that he worked for Millennium Relief and Development Services, an organization affiliated with the US Development Agency. On the other hand, US embassy officials contacted by the Associated Press said they had heard of the shooting and had no information about it. The US State Department also said, “We are awaiting reports of the murder of an American citizen in Baghdad.”