Iraq's military condemned overnight U.S. airstrikes on Friday, saying they had killed six people and describing them as a violation of sovereignty and a targeted aggression against the nation's formal armed forces.
The United States said it carried out the series of strikes on Thursday against an Iran-backed militia in Iraq that it blamed for a rocket attack a day earlier which killed two American troops and a British soldier.
"The pretext that this attack came as a response to the aggression that targeted the Taji base is a false pretext; one that leads to escalation and does not provide a solution," Iraq's Joint Operations Command said in a statement.
"This action is against the will of the Iraqi state and a violation of its sovereignty, it strengthens outlaws. No party has the right to substitute itself for the state, its sovereignty, or its legitimate decisions."