Missiles hit Baghdad area as Iraqis mourn Qasem Soleimani’s death
Several blasts shook the Baghdad area hours after the funeral procession of a top Iranian general, killed by a US air strike there on Friday. However, a warning from US President Donald Trump followed the rocket attacks on Green Zone and US base.
FollowBaghdad, Iran: A missile hit the Green Zone near the US embassy while several more projectiles were fired north of the Iraqi capital at Balad air base, which houses US forces.
One of the projectiles appeared to target the US’s embassy and one of its bases in Iraq on Saturday night, sparking fears that Iran-backed militia have begun taking revenge for the killing of its commander and Iran’s top general.
Nobody was hurt in the attacks, Iraqi security sources said. No group said it was behind the development. Pro-Iranian militants have been blamed for other recent attacks.
At least one rocket or mortar round hit Celebration Square in the Green Zone, while another exploded in the city's Jadria area, Iraqi security sources said.
After two rockets hit Balad air base, surveillance drones were sent up to locate the source, AFP news agency reported.
Iranian leaders have vowed to avenge the killing of Qasem Soleimani, who was regarded as a terrorist by the US.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites "very hard" if Iran attacked Americans or United States assets following a US raid on Friday that killed the head of Quds Force Qassem Soleimani.
Showing no sign of an effort to ease tensions in the region, Trump took to Twitter to warn that the US had "targeted 52 Iranian sites" and that some were "at a very high level and important to Iran and the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, will be hit very fast and very hard."
"The USA wants no more threats!" Trump said.
The 52 targets represented the 52 Americans who were held hostage in Iran for 444 days after being seized at the US embassy in Tehran in November 1979, he added.
