Rocket attack near Baghdad airport leaves five civilians dead
Three children and two women from the same Iraqi family have reportedly lost their lives as rocket attack rocks residential area near Baghdad International Airport.
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In a statement, Iraq’s military condemned the rocket attack, which also severely wounded two other children, on Monday.
No group has claimed responsibility for the assault, which, according to the Iraqi military, was carried out by ‘criminal gangs and groups of outlaws’ seeking to create chaos and terrorize people.
The rocket was apparently aimed at where American troops are stationed, but it fell instead on the ill-fated house, which was almost completely destroyed, Reuters quoted unnamed police sources as saying.
It was launched from the Jihad neighborhood, the AP reported.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has ordered the identification and arrest of the perpetrators, saying “these gangs will not be allowed to go around and tamper with security” with impunity.
The Monday attack, the latest in a string of similar assaults targeting the American interests in Iraq, was conducted against the backdrop of Washington’s threat to shut down its diplomatic mission and pull out its 3,000 troops unless such rocket launches halt.
Previous such attacks have been claimed by murky groups, which say they are acting against the ‘American occupier.’
According to a tally by the AFP, between October 2019 and July, at least 39 rocket attacks targeted those interests in Iraq.
The rocket attacks, which commenced about a year ago, have so far caused few casualties, excluding the Monday incident, which has been the first to claim several civilian lives.
The attacks often target convoys carrying supplies to the US or US-led coalition facilities, the heavily fortified Green Zone where the US Embassy is located, or the Baghdad airport.
Relations between Iraq and the United States have soured since January 3, when a Washington-authorized US terrorist drone struck a convoy at the Baghdad airport, assassinating Iran’s top anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and Hashd al-Sha’abi deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Just two days later, Iraqi lawmakers unanimously passed a bill mandating the expulsion of all foreign troops from Iraq.
President Donald Trump, who personally ordered the January 3 act of terror, then threatened Iraq with sanctions and seizure of its oil money held in American banks if the country’s leaders followed through on their pledge to expel US forces.
More than 17 years after the US invasion of Iraq, Trump said last month that Washington would eventually withdraw all troops from the conflict-ridden country, though he did not provide a timetable.
