Iraq's PMF puts the toll from the US and Saudi strikes at 20 killed and 32 wounded, as the UN warns the conflict is widening

Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) said on Wednesday, 29 July 2026 (7 Mordad 1405), that 20 people were killed and 32 others wounded in the US and Saudi air strikes on its sites in various parts of Iraq. It is the first specific casualty figure for the strikes: in its initial statement earlier that morning, the PMF had reported only that some of its personnel were killed and wounded and said a precise assessment was still under way.

The same day, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the United Nations, told a press briefing that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was concerned about the geographic spread of the conflict. In his words, "the Secretary-General has been worried for some time that if the parties do not return to negotiations, the scope of this conflict will widen, and it appears that in recent hours exactly that has been happening."

US Central Command said in a statement on Wednesday morning that American forces, working with Saudi armed forces, had struck sites belonging to the PMF in eastern Iraq, describing the action as a response to a series of drone attacks on US forces and on Saudi energy infrastructure. Iraq is the leading destination for Iran's non-oil exports, and an intensifying conflict on Iraqi soil affects both cross-border trade and the risk premium in world oil prices; Brent crossed $90 a barrel the same day.