ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) on Wednesday said at least 20 fighters were killed and 32 others injured in overnight US-Saudi strikes on several of its bases across the country, adding that investigations are ongoing.

“At least 20 fighters were martyred and 32 others were wounded in the preliminary toll of terrorist attacks launched by the joint US-Saudi aggression,” the PMF said in a statement, adding that updates will continue as investigations are ongoing.

The PMF is a state-integrated but Iran-backed paramilitary umbrella group, with many of its components having long been accused of operating outside Baghdad's authority and carrying out military action at the behest of Tehran.

The US and Saudi Arabia launched “precision strikes” targeting pro-Iran armed factions in several provinces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday, marking the first publicized Saudi involvement in the attacks, coming after Riyadh accused the factions of launching attacks against the country for two consecutive days.

“According to information gathered, the attacks targeted PMF headquarters in the provinces of Baghdad, Wasit, Nineveh, Basra, Kirkuk, Karbala, and Diyala, also resulting in varying degrees of material damage to a number of headquarters, vehicles, and military equipment,” the PMF said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered the country's parliamentary National Security Council to convene on Wednesday for an emergency meeting regarding the strikes, with a statement set to be released thereafter.

The Nineveh Provincial Council strongly condemned attacks on the sovereignty of the province, while also rejecting the use of “the province's territory as a launching pad for attacks or targeting neighboring countries.”

Saudi Arabia and the US conducted large-scale strikes on pro-Iran militias across multiple Iraqi provinces overnight, killing several PMF fighters in Riyadh's first public retaliation after allegedly being targeted by Iran-aligned factions operating on Iraqi soil.

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The Saudi defense ministry said late Tuesday that it intercepted numerous drones allegedly launched by pro-Iran militias in Iraq seeking to target oil infrastructure, calling on Baghdad “to take all necessary steps” to prevent further attacks, while emphasizing “the Kingdom's inherent right to defend itself and its assets and its right to respond at the appropriate time and place.”

Hours later, the ministry announced that, line with Saudi Arabia’s right to self-defense, its armed forces, in coordination with US Central Command (CENTCOM), had carried out “precise and targeted strikes against targets belonging to those militias located on the territory of the Republic of Iraq and linked to the attacks on petroleum facilities in the Kingdom.”

The US-Saudi strikes targeted “Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” a statement from CENTCOM read.