Rockets Land near US Embassy in Baghdad’s Highly Fortified Green Zone

By Staff, Agencies

Iraqi sources reported that at least three Katyusha rockets landed within the highly fortified Green Zone in the capital Baghdad, whose apparent target has been the US embassy in the vicinity.

The rockets, which were fired late on Sunday, landed close to the US diplomatic mission, two Iraqi security sources were quoted by Reuters as saying, causing sirens blaring within the compound without any casualties apart from some material damage.

One of the rockets was diverted by an anti-rocket system set up to defend the embassy, said a security official whose office is inside the Green House.

AFP reporters in the Iraqi capital's east said they had heard at least five booms, followed by whistling sounds.

A security source told AFP that at least three rockets hit near the US diplomatic mission, while two others hit separate residential neighborhoods.

Following the attack, the Iraqi military said in a statement that an "outlaw group" had fired rockets at Baghdad's Green Zone, Reuters reported.

The rockets hit a residential complex inside the Green Zone, damaging buildings and cars, but causing no casualties, the statement added.

The US Embassy has been targeted several times this year, amid heightened anti-American sentiments in the Arab country in the aftermath of the US assassination of Iran’s anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, and the deputy head of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Baghdad on January 3.

In September, a Katyusha rocket landed in Baghdad’s Green Zone, prompting American forces to close the doors of the US embassy.

On August 16, at least four Katyusha rockets were fired at the US embassy, one of which landed in an area where American troops are stationed at the diplomatic mission.

Also, three Katyusha rockets landed near the US Embassy in July.