ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – At least seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 13 others were injured in an airstrike in Anbar's Habbaniyah, where a separate attack a day earlier killed 15 members of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the defense ministry announced on Wednesday. 

An airstrike followed by artillery fire from an aircraft "resulted in the martyrdom of seven of our heroic fighters and the injury of thirteen others," the Iraqi defense ministry said in a statement, with search and rescue teams still conducting operations at the scene.

The ministry denounced the "criminal act" as a "blatant and serious violation of international law," saying that targeting medical facilities is "a heinous crime by all standards, as it targets institutions dedicated to saving lives and providing care to our fighters." 

Wednesday's attack marks the second time Habbaniya, located some 85 kilometers west of Baghdad in Anbar province, has been attacked in the last two days. An airstrike on early Tuesday killed at least 15 members of the PMF, including the group’s Anbar operations commander.

Many Iran-backed factions operating within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have been officially incorporated into the Iraqi state security apparatus as part of the PMF, making Iraq a target for US-Israeli strikes. 

The country also houses US and Western forces as part of a coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), and has been subjected to incessant attacks by Iran and its proxies in Iraq.

Since the start of the war in late February, American-Israeli strikes have targeted PMF positions across the country, while pro-Iran groups operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have repeatedly attacked US interests in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Earlier on Tuesday, the PMF's 47th brigade was targeted in Babil's Jurf al-Nasr, and two members of the brigade were wounded. The PMF's 47th brigade belongs to the salient pro-Iran Kataib Hezbollah group

The strikes have killed dozens of PMF members in recent weeks, including senior figures such as Kataib Hezbollah security chief Abu Ali al-Askari.