Twelve ballistic missiles” fired from outside Iraq on Sunday targeted thecapital of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, Arbil, and the US consulate there,Kurdish security forces said.
“The missiles were fired outside the borders of Iraq and Kurdistan,(coming) more precisely from the east,” a press release from the Kurdistancounter-terrorism unit stated.
The attack caused some material damage but no casualties, it added.
US interests and coalition troops in Iraq have regularly been targeted inrocket and armed drone attacks.
They have never been claimed, but Western officials have blamed them onhard-line pro-Iran factions demanding the departure of US troops.
Iran shares a long eastern border with Iraq, and wields considerablepolitical and economic influence with its neighbour.
Washington said there was “no damage or casualties at any US governmentfacility”.
“We condemn this outrageous attack and display of violence,” a StateDepartment spokesperson said.
Local television channel Kurdistan24, whose studios are not far from the USconsulate, posted images on social networks of its damaged offices, withcollapsed sections of false ceiling and broken glass.
Arbil’s airport said it had suffered no damage and flights had not beendisrupted.
Read Top Stories
It houses a base for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.
“We condemn this terrorist attack launched against several sectors ofArbil, we call on the inhabitants to remain calm,” Kurdistan Prime MinisterMasrour Barzani said in a statement.
The health ministry in Arbil said there had been no casualties.
Iraq saw a surge in rocket and armed-drone attacks at the beginning of theyear as Iran and its allies commemorated the second anniversary of thedeath of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant AbuMehdi al-Mouhandis, killed by American drone fire in Iraq in January 2020.
In late January, six rockets were fired at Baghdad International Airport,causing no casualties.
Sunday’s attack on Arbil comes nearly a week after two officers from Iran’sRevolutionary Guards were killed in Syria in a strike attributed to key USally Israel.
The Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic republic’s ideological army, vowedrevenge on Israel for the attack. -APP/AFP
