Explosions rock Baghdad as US embassy is attacked following strikes that killed members of an Iran-backed armed group, security sources say.
BAGHDAD: The US embassy in Baghdad was hit in an attack on Saturday. The incident followed earlier strikes in the capital that killed two members of a powerful Iran-backed armed group, according to security sources.
A cloud of black smoke rose above the diplomatic mission after the sound of explosions. An AFP journalist witnessed the scene unfold on Saturday morning.
Two security officials confirmed the embassy complex was struck. The exact cause of the attack was not immediately clear, with sources giving conflicting accounts.
One security source said a drone had hit the embassy. Another said a projectile, believed to be a rocket, had fallen on or near the diplomatic complex.
The US embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP. This marks the second time the embassy has come under attack since the wider Middle East conflict began.
Iraq was drawn into the regional war triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. The country has long been a proxy battleground between Washington and Tehran.
Saturday’s embassy attack occurred shortly after two separate strikes targeted the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah group. Security sources said those strikes killed two of its members, including a “key figure”.
A security source said a missile struck a house used by Kataeb Hezbollah in the early hours. The source stated that “a key figure was martyred” and two other members were wounded.
Two hours later, an airstrike hit a vehicle in eastern Baghdad. Another security source said that attack killed a member of the Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).
A Hashed al-Shaabi official told AFP the person killed in the vehicle strike also belonged to Kataeb Hezbollah. The PMF is a former paramilitary force now integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces.
It encompasses several brigades from Iran-backed groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah. No sources attributed responsibility for the strikes that killed the group members.
The Kataeb Hezbollah group itself has not commented on the incidents. AFP journalists in Baghdad heard blasts followed by ambulance sirens.
Witnesses reported seeing smoke rising from the Arasat neighbourhood. Several Iran-backed armed groups maintain a presence in that area.
Several Tehran-backed groups, which Washington designates as “terrorist organisations”, operate under an umbrella movement called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. They have claimed daily drone and rocket attacks against US bases in the region since the war’s start.
Several attacks targeting members of these groups across Iraq have been blamed on the US and Israel. The security situation in Baghdad remains highly volatile.
The Sun Malaysia
