Politics

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

On Thursday, four Katyusha rockets hit the fortified Green Zone in Iraq’s capital city Baghdad, Iraq’s security source announced, marking the fifth attack of its kind in 10 days, targeting sites hosting US political and military missions.

Halgurd Sherwani 2020/06/18 08:02

middle east Iraq Green Zone International Zone Rocket attack Katyusha

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Thursday, four Katyusha rockets hit the fortified Green Zone in Iraq’s capital city Baghdad, Iraq’s security source announced, marking the fifth attack of its kind in 10 days, targeting sites hosting US political and military missions.

The attack comes following US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue in which Baghdad is expected to commit itself to protect bases hosting foreign military personnel.

“[The rocket attacks] did not cause any causality or material damage,” Iraq’s Security Media Cell wrote on Twitter, without giving further details about the rocket’s landing spots.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.

On Monday at midnight, three Katyusha rockets struck the surroundings of Baghdad International Airport without causing any casualties, according to security sources.

The recent attack comes despite Iraq’s newly elected Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhim’s order for the security forces to find the perpetrators, after two Katyusha rockets landed in Taji military base, some 35 kilometers (21 miles) north of Baghdad, with the Iraqi military reporting no casualties.

The security forces were able to find the launching site of the rockets, located close to al-Rashid camp in southern Baghdad, the security source revealed.

However, the rocket attacks are fired on improvised launchers and usually do not cause any causalities, it has become a source of insecurity for foreign diplomatic and military missions in Iraq.

US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue

On Thursday, in a joint statement following the first round of talks between the US and Iraq, Baghdad announced it had “committed to protecting the military personnel of the International Coalition and the Iraqi facilities hosting them consistently.”

Following the first session of the strategic dialogue between the US and Iraq on Thursday, it was announced that a follow-up meeting would be held later this summer.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany