Rockets land near US embassy in Baghdad

US embassy sirens went off early Tuesday as three missiles landed near the compound in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone area, an official statement said.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – US embassy sirens went off early Tuesday as three missiles landed near the compound in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone area, an official statement said.

“Three Katyusha rockets landed in the vicinity of the Green Zone without resulting in any casualties,” a brief statement from the Iraqi military communications center, Security Media Cell, said shortly after the incident was reported.

Reuters quoted a security source as saying that the rockets were launched from the capital’s Za’faraniyah district, which is about 10 kilometers southeast of the Green Zone. Two of them landed near the US embassy, the report added.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack and other similar attacks – which have taken place several times in recent years and with increasing regularity – the United States often accuses Iraqi militia forces linked to Iran of carrying them out.

The attack comes amid a period of heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, after a series of tit-for-tat attacks by the US and Iran and its proxies in Iraq.

Airbases in Iraq that house American and coalition forces have been the target of rocket attacks in recent months.

On Jan. 9, two rockets landed in Iraq’s fortified Green Zone early but caused no casualties. The Iraqi Army said the Katyusha rockets landed near the US embassy in Baghdad.

Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missile strikes last week at airbases in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in retaliation for the US killing of Iranian general Qasim Soleimani.

Read More: Iran strikes military bases in Iraq, Kurdistan housing US forces: Pentagon

According to an Iraqi military statement, 22 ballistic missiles were launched at the Ain al-Assad airbase in the western Anbar province that houses American and coalition troops as well as a base in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany