Their deaths are a potential turning point in the Middle East and are expected to draw severe retaliation from Iran and the forces it backs in the Middle East against Israel and American interests.

At least three rockets were fired at the airport, according to Iraqi security officials.

The rockets landed near the air cargo terminal, burning two vehicles and injuring several people, said the Security Media Cell, which releases information regarding Iraqi security.

A spokesperson for Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces blamed the United States.

«The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassim Soleimani,» said Ahmed al-Assadi.

U.S. officials told Reuters that strikes were carried out against two targets linked to Iran in Baghdad, but declined to give any further details.

Police and health sources said that at least five people were killed and nine wounded.

A senior Iraqi politician and a high-level security official confirmed to The Associated Press that Soleimani and al-Muhandis were among those killed in the attack. Two militia leaders loyal to Iran also confirmed the deaths, including an official with the Kataeb Hezbollah, which was involved in the attack on the U.S. Embassy this week.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Muhandis had arrived to the airport in a convoy to receive Soleimani whose plane had arrived from either Lebanon or Syria. The airstrike occurred as soon as he descended from the plane to be greeted by al-Muhandis and his companions, killing them all.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject and because they were not authorized to give official statements.

The senior politician said Soleimani’s body was identified by the ring he wore.

Soleimani had been rumoured dead several times, including in a 2006 airplane crash that killed other military officials in northwestern Iran and following a 2012 bombing in Damascus that killed top aides of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. More recently, rumours circulated in November 2015 that Soleimani was killed or seriously wounded leading forces loyal to Assad as they fought around Syria’s Aleppo.

Supporters of Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday following U.S. air raids Sunday against Kataib Hezbollah militia bases in retaliation for missile attacks that killed a U.S. contractor in northern Iraq last week.

Tension between the United States and Iran has ramped up in the region over U.S. economic sanctions hurting the Iranian economy. The two sides have traded blame over attacks on oil installations, militia arms depots as well as military bases hosting U.S. forces.