SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Missiles fired at Arbil from outside Iraq
Arbil, Iraq, March 13 (AFP) Mar 13, 2022
"Twelve ballistic missiles" fired from outside Iraq on Sunday targeted the capital 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 Kurdistan counter-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 in rocket and armed drone attacks.

They have never been claimed, but Western officials have blamed them on hard-line pro-Iran factions demanding the departure of US troops.

Iran shares a long eastern border with Iraq, and wields considerable political and economic influence with its neighbour.

Washington said there was "no damage or casualties at any US government facility".

"We condemn this outrageous attack and display of violence," a State Department spokesperson said.

Local television channel Kurdistan24, whose studios are not far from the US consulate, posted images on social networks of its damaged offices, with collapsed sections of false ceiling and broken glass.

Arbil's airport said it had suffered no damage and flights had not been disrupted.

It houses a base for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

"We condemn this terrorist attack launched against several sectors of Arbil, we call on the inhabitants to remain calm," Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour 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 the year as Iran and its allies commemorated the second anniversary of the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mehdi 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's Revolutionary Guards were killed in Syria in a strike attributed to key US ally Israel.

The Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic republic's ideological army, vowed revenge on Israel for the attack.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
NASA raises chance for asteroid to hit moon
BlackSky plans new satellite network for large-scale AI-driven Earth observation
Fish biofluorescence evolved independently over 100 times in evolutionary history

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Europe's lithium quest hampered by China and lack of cash
ArcelorMittal stops 'green' steel projects in Germany
Thailand credits prey releases for 'extraordinary' tiger recovery

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Trump 'Golden Dome' plan tricky and expensive: experts
France finds cash for 'strategic asset' satellite firm Eutelsat
British FM says 'window now exists' for diplomacy with Iran

24/7 News Coverage
How did life survive 'Snowball Earth'? In ponds, study suggests
Arctic warming spurs growth of carbon-soaking peatlands
Climate change could double summer rainfall in the Alps: study



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.