Iraqi protesters breached the outer wall of the high-security US embassy compound on Tuesday, AFP correspondents reported, in anger at weekend air strikes that killed pro-Iran fighters.

US security forces inside the compound fired tear gas and flash bangs to disperse the crowds, which had ignored calls over megaphones to back away from the embassy.

The demonstrators were protesting US air strikes on Sunday that killed at least 25 fighters from a hard line faction known as Kataeb Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades), which the US has accused of killing a US contractor in a rocket attack.