Two rockets have fallen inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions, but caused no casualties, the Iraqi military says.
Sirens were sounding inside the Green Zone on Wednesday, with police sources saying at least one of the rockets fell 100 metres from the US Embassy.
“Two Katyusha rockets fall inside the Green Zone without causing casualties. Details to follow,” the military said.
Two loud blasts followed by sirens had been heard in Baghdad, witnesses said.
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.
Two Katyusha rockets fell near #US embassy in central Baghdad. embassy’s sirens heard. pic.twitter.com/vNvz6cXT2f
— Barzan Sadiq (@BarzanSadiq) January 8, 2020
Iran earlier launched an overnight missile attack targeting US forces in Iraq in retaliation for the killing last week of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, raising concern about a wider war in the Middle East.
Iranian state television said Iran had fired 15 ballistic missiles from its territory. The bases targeted were al-Asad air base and another facility in Erbil, the Pentagon said.
One source said early indications were of no US casualties, while other US officials declined to comment.
Iranian television said 80 “American terrorists” had been killed and US helicopters and military equipment damaged. It provided no evidence of how it obtained the information.
Germany, Denmark, Norway and Poland said none of their troops in Iraq were hurt. Britain, which also has personnel in Iraq, condemned the Iranian action. Iraq said its forces did not suffer casualties.
More than 5000 US troops remain in Iraq along with the other foreign forces in a coalition that has trained and backed Iraqi forces against the threat of Islamic State militants.
Despite the latest strikes, US Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday intelligence indicated Iran had asked its allied militias not to attack US targets.
“We’re receiving some encouraging intelligence that Iran is sending messages to those very same militias not to move against American targets or civilians, and we hope that that message continues to echo,” he told CBS News in an interview.
-AAP
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