SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A child was killed after seven Katyusha rockets fired toward Baghdad’s Green Zone late on Tuesday, the Iraqi military said.
Iraqi Security Media Cell said in a statement late on Tuesday that four rockets fell inside the Green Zone and three outside, killing a child and wounding five others.
The military said in a separate statement earlier that four rockets were fired from an eastern district of the capital.
Three rockets also landed outside the Green Zone, one hitting close to Baghdad Medical City Hospital, one at the gate of a public park, and a third exploded in the air, according to the Iraqi military.
Officials also told AP that two members of the Iraqi security forces were wounded inside the Green Zone.
Sirens blared from the embassy inside the zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions.
Reuters cited two diplomatic sources based inside the Green Zone as saying that they heard an anti-rocket system set up to defend the U.S. embassy.
Security sources told AFP on Tuesday night that the attack targeted the U.S. embassy. AFP reporters said they heard several large blasts, followed by rapid-fire and red flares lighting up the sky, indicating that the embassy’s C-Ram rocket defense system was deployed.
Iraqi security sources told AP that one of the rockets struck close to Iraq’s National Security Service, just 600 meters from the U.S. embassy. They said that some of the rockets were intercepted by the C-RAM air defense system installed by the U.S. earlier this year.
U.S. officials blame Iran-backed militia for regular rocket attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq, including near the embassy in Baghdad. No known Iran-backed groups have claimed responsibility.
An array of Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups announced in October that they have suspended rocket attacks on U.S. forces on condition that Iraq’s government present a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement that the rocket attack would not go without “prosecution and accountability”.
Spokesman of U.S.-led Coalition Forces Colonel Wayne Marotto said in a tweet that the attack which targeted an Iraqi base resulted in no Coalition casualties.
“This is yet another instance of outlaw groups killing fellow Iraqis & harms those who seek peace,” Marotto tweeted.
