ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s interior ministry on Saturday denied reports of a rocket attack on a United States-led coalition base at Baghdad International Airport, saying the blast was a controlled demolition in the capital’s west.
“The reports that a rocket was fired at a coalition base in Baghdad International Airport are untrue. The sound was instead the result of the explosion of war remnants in western Baghdad,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Miqdad Miri told Rudaw.
He was denying remarks from a security source in Baghdad who earlier on Saturday told Rudaw that Victory Base in Baghdad airport was targeted by a Katyusha rocket.
Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone and American interests in Iraq have been frequent targets of rocket and drone attacks blamed on pro-Iran Iraqi militia groups.
The attacks increased after the US assassinated top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020.
They dramatically spiked again after Israel retaliated against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in October of last year. The militia groups responsible were angry over Washington’s support for Israel.
Updated at 12:24 pm
“The reports that a rocket was fired at a coalition base in Baghdad International Airport are untrue. The sound was instead the result of the explosion of war remnants in western Baghdad,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Miqdad Miri told Rudaw.
He was denying remarks from a security source in Baghdad who earlier on Saturday told Rudaw that Victory Base in Baghdad airport was targeted by a Katyusha rocket.
Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone and American interests in Iraq have been frequent targets of rocket and drone attacks blamed on pro-Iran Iraqi militia groups.
The attacks increased after the US assassinated top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020.
They dramatically spiked again after Israel retaliated against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in October of last year. The militia groups responsible were angry over Washington’s support for Israel.
Updated at 12:24 pm
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