Mystery blast kills one at Iran-backed militia base in Iraq weeks after suspected Israeli strike

Iraq's interior ministry says a large explosion at an ammunition depot southwest of the capital, Baghdad, has injured 13 people, most lightly.

Maj. General Saad Maan, a ministry spokesman, said it was not immediately clear what caused the blast at the al-Saqr military base.

The explosion was heard throughout the city and smoke billowed in the air Monday evening.

The base houses a weapons depot for the Iraqi federal police and the mainly Shia militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic.

Video from al-Ain news site showed clouds of smoke billowing from one of the weapons stores belonging to the Hashd al-Shaabi.

This is the second attack to have targeted Iranian-backed Shia militia bases in the space of just under a month.