Baghdad, January 2 (RHC)-- General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds force, has been reported killed alongside six others following a U.S. airstrike at Baghdad's international airport.  Iraqi officials and the state television reported that in addition to Soleimani, Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was killed in the attack.

Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of pro-Iranian militias, also confirmed the attack.  Two unnamed U.S. officials told Reuters news agency that the U.S. carried out the targeted airstrikes.

Sources from the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) earlier told Al Jazeera that the rockets destroyed two vehicles carrying "high profile guests" who had arrived at the airport and were being escorted by a PMF public relations official.

Al Jazeera's Osama bin Javaid, reporting from Baghdad, said the incident appeared to be a targeted strike.