The US military launches its retaliatory strikes in response to the "Al- Taji attack"

On Thursday, a Sky News Arabia correspondent reported that explosions were heard in the Jurf al-Sakhar area, which is controlled by the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades militia in Babil Governorate.

The explosions, whose causes were not immediately confirmed, came at a time when two US officials told Reuters that the United States was carrying out retaliatory strikes in Iraq targeting Iraqi Hezbollah militias, in response to a missile attack yesterday that killed two American soldiers and a British military at the Taji base to the north of Baghdad.

The two officials gave no details of the targets being hit, or the target groups. But the Pentagon earlier blamed an Iranian-backed armed group for the attack, which also wounded 14 people.

One official said the US response would be proportional to Wednesday's missile attack.

The Pentagon has not yet responded to a request for comment.