Iraq’s capital Baghdad rocked by powerful blasts near US embassy
Al Jazeera
The attacks are part of an escalating cycle of violence between US forces and Iraqi groups aligned with Tehran.
Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, has been rocked by a series of explosions close to the United States embassy in the city’s heavily fortified Green Zone as the rapidly escalating US-Israeli war on Iran continued to spill over the border.
“We’ve had drone activity here in Baghdad’s Green Zone, where the US embassy is located … and we understand that two drones [were] intercepted, while the third disappeared off radar,” said Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from the capital on Tuesday night.
Security sources told the Reuters news agency that at least three explosive drones also targeted a US diplomatic facility near Baghdad International Airport, activating C-RAM air defence systems.
Baig said he heard a series of loud explosions and that debris had fallen across the city, causing “damage to windows and infrastructure” in a university compound in the neighbourhood of al-Dura.
A fire also broke out near the Central Bank in the al-Jadriyah district, where “debris from an aerial object” had fallen close to the building’s main gates, said Baig, citing Iraqi authorities.
The attack appears to be another Israeli attempted assassination, outside areas traditionally targeted.
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The strike in a densely populated area appears to be another attempted assassination, with no information yet on target.
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Arab states in the Gulf and beyond that house US assets have been targeted in Iranian retaliatory strikes in the war.