Three wounded in Iraq rocket attack: security source

BAGHDAD: Three people were wounded in rocket attacks on the Iraqi capital Baghdad's Green Zone Thursday, with one hitting a school and two smashing into the US embassy grounds, security sources said.

"Three rockets were fired towards the Green Zone," a high-ranking Iraqi official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that two of the wounded were children.

"Two of those fell on the grounds of the American embassy and the other on a school nearby, injuring a woman, a girl and a young boy."

Another security source who did not wish to be identified said there were no injuries or damages inside the US embassy compound, which is in the Green Zone, an ultra-secure area that houses foreign embassies and Iraqi government offices.

The US embassy condemned the attack in a statement on Facebook, attributing it to "terrorist groups attempting to undermine Iraq's security, sovereignty, and international relations".

No group has claimed the attack.

The Iraqi government's Security Media Cell said a number of rockets were fired from the Al-Dawra area in the south of Baghdad.

Rocket hits military base near Baghdad airport, no casualties

AFP journalists heard two explosions in the early evening Thursday, as well as the sounds of shooting from the Green Zone.

In recent months, dozens of rocket assaults or drone bomb attacks have targeted American troops and interests in Iraq.

Earlier this month, five rockets targeted an air base used by the US-led coalition in western Iraq, without causing any damage.

Attacks intensified in January, coinciding with the second anniversary of the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.

The attacks are rarely claimed, but are routinely pinned on pro-Iran factions.

These factions in Iraq are calling for the departure of all US forces stationed in the country.

While the US ended its combat mission in Iraq in December, about 2,500 troops remain in a training capacity as part of the coalition against the Islamic State group.

At the beginning of November, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi escaped unharmed in an unclaimed drone bomb attack which targeted his official residence in the Green Zone.