Baghdad, July 31 (IANS): Up to five Iraqi paramilitary Hashd Shaabi members were killed and six others wounded in an unknown drone attack on a military base in Iraq's Babil province, an Interior Ministry source said.

Unknown drones bombed a military base of the Hashd Shaabi forces, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, in the Jurf al-Nasr area in the northern part of Babil province, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity, the source told Xinhua.

Before dawn on Wednesday, the media office of the Hashd Shaabi Forces said in a brief statement on its official Telegram page that the attack occurred at 9.30 p.m. local time when unknown drones fired missiles on two patrols belonging to the 47th Brigade of the Hashd Shaabi in the Jurf al-Nasr area, Xinhua news agency reported.

Also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, the Hashd Shaabi forces are a state-sponsored paramilitary network composed of mostly Shia Muslim groups.