Two rockets on Wednesday fell inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, which has government buildings and foreign missions, but no fatalities were reported, Reuters reported, citing Iraqi military. The development came a day after Iran launched an attack on two airbases housing United States soldiers in Iraq in retaliation against last week’s assassination of its top military commander Qassem Soleimani.
“Two Katyusha rockets fall inside the Green Zone without causing casualties,” unidentified military officials said. “Details to follow.” Eye-witnesses claimed that two loud blasts that were followed by sirens were heard in Baghdad.
No one has claimed responsibility for the incident. “The military coalition confirms small rockets impacted near Baghdad’s International Zone, January 8 at 11:45 pm (Baghdad time),” tweeted Colonel Myles B Caggins, a spokesperson for the United States-led coalition fighting the Islamic State. “No coalition casualties or damage to facilities.”
The Green Zone was created out of central Baghdad by United States-led forces after Iraq’s invasion in 2003. It is considered to be a safe location even though it is often hit by rocket attacks, CNN reported.
United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday justified killing Soleimani, saying that he had “trained terrorist armies, including Hezbollah, fuelled bloody civil wars, and viciously injured and murdered American troops”. He claimed that Iran appeared to be “standing down”, and that no American or Iraqi lives were in Tehran’s missile attacks.
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