A huge crowd in Iraq’s capital Baghdad is taking part in a funeral procession for the Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike on Thursday, the BBC reports.
Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s Middle East operations and Iran vowed to take “severe revenge” for his death.
The gathering in Baghdad on Saturday marked the beginning of days of mourning for Soleimani.
His body is to be returned to Iran for a funeral and burial in his home town.
The crowds in Baghdad were also there to mourn the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi who commanded the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah group.
Mourners started gathering in Baghdad from the early hours, ahead of the start of the procession, waving Iraqi and militia flags and chanting “death to America”.
The procession snaked though the streets, some carrying portraits of Soleimani and some of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
