Rocket attack hits house near Baghdad airport, killing five Iraqis
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Katyusha missile hit a house near Baghdad International Airport on Monday, killing five Iraqis and injuring another two. All casualties were women or children.
The most evident target of the attack was not the house where the rocket fell, but rather the airport, which, in addition to its civilian functions, also houses military facilities, including those of the US-led Coalition against ISIS.
The attack came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has twice warned Iraqi officials that the US will close its embassy in Baghdad and shift its diplomatic operations to Erbil, if Baghdad did not stop such assaults, which are being carried out by pro-Iranian militias.
Read More: US will close Baghdad embassy—but keep Erbil consulate open
The Iraqi Joint Operations Center (JOC) issued a statement on Monday evening, explaining that "the missile had been launched from the Al-Jihad neighborhood and landed on a house near the airport fence in al-Radwaniyah district.”
At the same time, it said, two other rockets hit a nearby area.
“Outlaw groups this afternoon committed a cowardly crime in the Abu Shaban neighborhood in the Al-Radwaniyah district in Baghdad, as they targeted the home of a family and destroyed it, killing five people: three children and two women and wounding another two children,” the statement from the JOC explained.
Recent targets of rocket attacks have been Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, which includes Iraqi government offices, as well as the US embassy, the Baghdad International Airport, and military bases that house foreign personnel.
The response of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to the latest attack appears to reflect Washington’s very strong insisted that the Iraqi government must do much more to stop such assaults.
The JOC statement said, "The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, has instructed that those security forces and all concerned security authorities who failed to perform their security duties would be placed under arrest, and every force that neglects and allows such security breaches will be punished."
Kadhimi stressed, according to the JOC statement, “All the security services must intensify their intelligence efforts to curb these crimes that terrify citizens,” ordering “an immediate investigation into the incident and the prosecution of the perpetrators, regardless of their affiliations, to receive the most severe penalties.”
Editing by Laurie Mylroie