An embassy spokesman said there were no casualties and said they were investigating the incident.

There are indications that pro-Iranian militias were behind the attack.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We again call on the Iraqi government to do everything in its power to protect the personnel and facilities of diplomats and coalition partners,” the spokesman said.

He referred to the right to self-defence.

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The US State Department in Washington also condemned the attack and called on the Iraqi security forces to immediately investigate who was behind it and bring the perpetrators to justice.

“The many Iran-aligned militias operating freely in Iraq threaten the security and stability of Iraq, our people and our partners in the region,” a ministry spokesman said.

Iraqi security sources had previously reported that several rockets had been fired at the area surrounding the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

According to reports from the Arabic television station Al Arabiya, up to 14 rockets were fired.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, pro-Iranian militias in Iraq have increasingly attacked U.S. military bases in Syria and Iraq in response to the Israeli military operation.

The U.S. Department of Defence said there had been at least 78 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria since mid-October.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani condemned the act.

He said the attackers were jeopardising Iraq’s internal security.

He gave the order to search for the perpetrators.

Source: dpa/NAN

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The warning came in a tweet which includes a photograph of three unexploded rocket shells that the president claimed came from Iran.

“Our embassy in Baghdad got hit Sunday by several rockets.

“Three rockets failed to launch. Guess where they were from? IRAN.

“Now we hear the chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq.

“Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible.

“Think it over,’’ the tweet reads.

In a statement on Wednesday, the U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM, alleged that Sunday’s attack was “almost certainly conducted by an Iranian-backed rogue militia group.’’

Reports say several missiles were fired at the heavily secured Baghdad’s diplomatic zone, leaving an Iraqi soldier injured at a security checkpoint.

The military reportedly said several buildings and cars were damaged after most of the rockets landed in a residential neighbourhood near the U.S. embassy.

The embassy said the explosions caused minor damage to its compound but that there were no injuries or casualties.

In a statement, the spokesman of CENTCOM, Capt. William Urban said 21 rockets were fired on the area which he said was the largest rocket attack since 2010.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “strongly” condemned the attack, blaming it on militias linked to Iran.

The two countries came close to war in January after Iran claimed responsibility for multiple rocket attacks on two military bases housing U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, IRGC, said it fired the missiles in retaliation for the death of Iranian top military commander, Qassem Soleimani, in a U.S. strike in Iraq days earlier.

The world held its breath as Trump went into a Security Council meeting following the attack.

Addressing a news conference after the meeting, Trump ruled out an attack against Iran, saying an assessment of the damage showed that no American soldier was harmed.

Source: NAN

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“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qassem Soleimani,” the Pentagon statement says.

The Pentagon says Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.”

“General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week,” the statement continues.

The U.S. also held Soleimani and his Quds Force responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and said he “orchestrated” a rocket attack on December 27, which killed an American.

Source: dpa/NAN

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The explosion took place in the Baladiyat neighborhood.

A senior police source said that either a suicide belt or improvised explosive device had been used in the attack, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The source said the death toll was expected to rise with many of those wounded in serious condition.

It was a rare attack on a Shi’ite place of worship in the Iraqi capital.

Sunni extremists carried out high-profile bombings of Iraqi Shi’ite sites during the worst of the country’s sectarian violence after the U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Baghdad’s security improved significantly with the defeat of Islamic State in 2017 and bomb attacks of any kind in the city have been rare since then.

Source: NAN

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