An ammunition depot at the headquarters of Hashd al-Shaabi, the coalition of militias allied with the Islamic Republic in Iraq, exploded in eastern Baghdad on the evening of Saturday, 17 October 2026. The blast occurred near the Canal Highway and the Saad al-Witri Hospital in the Sadr al-Qanat area, and thick smoke spread over the district.
In its first statement, Hashd al-Shaabi's media office put the cause down to a "damaged ammunition depot" and reported no casualties. However, according to security and medical sources, one Hashd al-Shaabi member was killed and four were wounded, a report that has not yet been independently confirmed. Residents of the Kuraiat neighbourhood near the site said they saw flames, and the sound of the explosion was heard in surrounding districts.
Claim of an attack: unconfirmed
Some crowdsourced reporting channels claimed in the first minutes that the US and Israel had attacked the headquarters, but so far no official or independent source has confirmed an air strike, and neither the US nor Israel has commented on it. The extent of the damage and the exact cause of the explosion remain unclear.
Hashd al-Shaabi and the regional war
Hashd al-Shaabi is a collection of militia groups, many of which receive training, weapons and money from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Its bases have been hit by explosions before: in March-April 2026 the Iraqi army accused the US and Israel of attacking one of Hashd al-Shaabi's bases in Anbar province, and in autumn 2025 another explosion at one of its headquarters left three dead.
The blast comes as pressure mounts on the Islamic Republic's proxy network in the region, from assessments of the IRGC's role in the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia to Hezbollah's request to get back explosives seized in Lebanon.
Hashd al-Shaabi blamed decayed munitions for the explosion at its Baghdad headquarters; no independent source has confirmed the claim of an air strike.
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