Mortars and Rockets fired towards American Embassy in Iraq
Two mortar rounds hit the Iraqi capital’s Green Zone Saturday and two rockets slammed into a base housing US troops, security sources said, a day after a deadly American strike.
There were no casualties after the rocket fell near the embassy compound in the Iraqi capital’s green zone, police sources told Reuters, as reported by Sky News.
The rocket has fallen near the US embassy in Baghdad – hours after mourners chanted “death to America” over the killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, top Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and a clutch of other Iranian and Iraqi figures in a precision drone strike outside the Baghdad airport on Friday.
In Baghdad, mortar rounds on Saturday evening hit the Green Zone, the high-security enclave where the US embassy is based, security sources said. The Iraqi military said that one projectile hit inside the zone, while another landed close to the enclave. Sirens rang out at the US compound, sources there told AFP, as reported by The Times of India.
Meanwhile, two Katyusha rockets have fallen near Iraq’s Balad air base, which houses US forces and separately, mortar has fallen in Baghdad’s Jadriya neighbourhood.
No casualties have been reported following the Balad’s air base, however police sources quoted by Reuters said that five people have been wounded.
Sky News reports that the Iraqi military said in a statement after the strikes: “Several rockets targeting Celebration Square and the Jadriya area in Baghdad, and the Balad air base in Salahuddin province, with no loss of life. Further details to come.”
Via Sky News / Reuters / AFP / Times of India
