Ballistic missiles fired at Iraq's Arbil 'from east'

A view of a damaged building after an overnight attack in Arbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region. AFP

A dozen ballistic missiles targeted Iraq's northern city of Arbil, including US facilities, causing damage but no major casualties early on Sunday, security forces in the autonomous Kurdistan region said. Local authorities said the missiles came from beyond the eastern border, suggesting that the source of the fire was Iran -- a country that wields considerable political and economic influence over its neighbour. "Twelve ballistic missiles" on Sunday targeted the capital of 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," the Kurdistan counter-terrorism unit said in a statement. Iraq, including the Kurdistan region, is home to a dwindling number of US troops who led a coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist group. Washington has routinely blamed rocket and drone attacks against its interests in Iraq on pro-Iran groups who demand the departure of the remaining troops. But cross-border missile fire is rare. 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 that attack. The interior ministry in Arbil said a "new building" housing the US consulate, which is located in a residential suburb of the city, was hit in Sunday's missile attack. It "caused material damages in buildings and houses, but no casualties, except one slightly injured civilian," a ministry statement said. An AFP correspondent in Arbil heard three explosions before dawn. 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. "We condemn this terrorist attack launched against several sectors of Arbil," Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, said in a statement. "We call on the inhabitants to remain calm". The health ministry in Arbil said there were no casualties.