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On the evening of August 10th, an explosion reportedly targeted a convoy carrying equipment for US forces near the Iraq-Kuwait border, Reuters reported.
It was not immediately clear if there were any U.S. troops in the convoy or if anyone had been injured in the explosion.
The Iraqi military entirely denied that an explosion took place.
Kuwait’s Armed Forces on Twitter denied the attack on one of the outposts on its northern border with Iraq, affirming that boarders are stable and secure.
Initially, Reuters claimed, an unnamed security source had said that the explosion was caused by an Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim militia targeting a U.S. military base near the crossing by smuggling in an explosive device, and that some staff on the base had been injured.
This was later contradicted by other security sources who said a convoy was attacked, not a base.
The Iraqi Shiite armed group, Ashab al-Kahf, issued a statement overnight claiming it destroyed “equipment and vehicles belonging to the American enemy” in a bombing targeting a border crossing south of the Iraqi city of Basra.
Shi'a Militant Group Claims Attack on U.S. Equipment, Vehicles at Iraq-Kuwait Border Crossing https://t.co/hlSDN6GrUp
— SITE Intel Group (@siteintelgroup) August 10, 2020
The group later published an 11-second video clip it claimed showed the blast, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors armed groups.
The SITE Intelligence Group has referred to Ashab al-Kahf as “reportedly an Iranian proxy unit.” The group initially threatened U.S. forces in April and claimed an attack on a convoy in July in Iraq’s Salaheddin province.
The out-of-focus video shows what appeared to be an explosion and lights in the distance, with a man speaking in Arabic.
U.S. Army Maj. John Rigsbee, a Central Command spokesman, said the American military was looking into reports of the explosion.
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