Baghdad protesters call for US troops to leave

Anti-government protesters in Baghdad have called on Iraq's parliament to remove American military forces from the country following the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Iraq's parliament was scheduled to meet for an emergency session on Sunday amid mounting pressure to expel 5,200 US troops who are based in the country to help prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State Group.

Soleimani, who was the architect of Iran's regional policy of mobilising militias across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, including in the war against the Islamic State group, was killed in an airstrike near Baghdad International Airport on Friday. Following his death, protesters in Baghdad's Tahrir Square told the Associated Press that the US "did not respect Iraq's sovereignty and its airspace" when it carried out the strike on Soleimani. The strike was authorised by US President Donald Trump.