Rocket wounds child outside Baghdad's Green Zone, second attack thwarted: Military

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Katyusha rocket apparently aimed at Baghdad’s Green Zone, the fortified site of multiple government buildings and foreign embassies, struck a nearby residential area and wounded a child, according to the Iraqi defence ministry.

The military communication center known as the Security Media Cell reported that it had been launched from the capital's Ali al-Salih neighborhood and caused damage to a house.

The statement added that another launch from the same location intended to be fired at the Taji military base, which houses both Iraqi and US troops some 35 kilometers (21 miles) north of Baghdad, had been thwarted, but no further details were given.

Multiple previous attacks on Taji, the Green Zone, or Baghdad International Airport have been blamed on Iranian-backed militias of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Read More: Four rockets hit Baghdad’s Green Zone; fifth time in a month

The new rocket attack came following Iraq’s Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) June 26 raid on a base of the PMF's Kata’ib Hizbollah in which it arrested several members.

Read More: Elite Iraqi force raids base of Iran-aligned militia in Baghdad

Later in the day, a group calling itself Usbat al-Tha’ireen (The Revolutionary League) claimed responsibility for the attack on social media.

The vague origin and rhetoric of the group, which first emerged in March by claiming responsibility for a similar previous incident, have led some observers to conclude that it has been fabricated by PMF militias and Tehran to create plausible deniability that either are involved in such incidents.

Editing by John J. Catherine