SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Sunday chaired a meeting with top security commanders to discuss a drone attack that targeted his residence in Baghdad.
Kadhimi escaped unharmed in an assassination attempt by the explosive-laden drone attack.
“The cowardly terrorist attack that targeted the home of the prime minister last night with the aim of assassinating him, is a serious targeting of the Iraqi state by criminal armed groups,” the premier’s office said in a statement issued following the meeting.
The Iraqi military said several members of Kadhimi’s personnel protection force stationed outside his residence in the Green Zone were wounded.
Three drones were used in the attack, including two that were intercepted and downed by security forces while a third drone hit the residence, according to the Iraqi interior ministry.
Iraqi President Barham Salih condemned the attack as a heinous crime against Iraq.
“We cannot accept that Iraq will be dragged into chaos and a coup against its constitutional system,” he said in a tweet.
Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose party was the biggest winner in last month’s election, called the attack a terrorist act against Iraq’s stability that aimed to “return Iraq to a state of chaos to be controlled by non-state forces”.
The United States, UK, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran as well as other Arab countries, Egypt and Lebanon condemned the attack.
Images published by Iraqi news agency INA showed damage to some parts of the prime minister’s residence and a damaged SUV vehicle parked in the garage.
Remains of a small explosive-laden drone were retrieved by security forces to be investigated.
