Fresh rocket attacks hit US embassy grounds in Baghdad; Iraqi PM condemns it
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Five Katyusha rockets landed on the US embassy campus grounds in the Iraqi capital Sunday evening, with parts of the compound reportedly damaged. No casualties were reported but sirens to take cover were reportedly heard at the site.
“Five Katyusha rockets hit the Green Zone without causing any casualties,” the Iraqi military communications center said in a statement. The Green Zone is a fortified area in the capital where diplomatic offices, as well as government buildings, are located.
The Iraqi Commander in Chief, caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, issued a separate statement shortly after, condemning the act of “aggression,” noting that the missiles fell “inside the US embassy campus.”
Kurdish politician and Iraq’s former foreign affairs and finance minister, Hoshyar Zebari, claimed in a tweet that “[t]he Embassy restaurant or canteen was damaged and burned” in the strike.
“This is a very dangerous game by #PMF uncontrolled factions to galvanize the tense situation,” he added, referring to the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militias, also called the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
The attack comes just six days after three missiles struck near the embassy. Such rocket strikes have been semi-regular over the past few months amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran along with its Iraqi proxies.
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