Rockets land in Baghdad's Green Zone

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Several rockets landed in and near Baghdad's Green Zone on Monday night, according to Iraqi military and security sources. 

At least one rocket hit the headquarters of Iraq's National Security Service, near the US embassy, a security source told AFP.

Iraq's Security Media Cell said two rockets landed in the Green Zone, with no casualties reported. 

A total of three rockets were launched from al-Salam neighbourhood, it said later, with one landing in the al-Harithiya neighbourhood. Four civilian vehicles were damaged. 

The attack comes exactly a week after multiple rockets were fired at the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil. One civilian contractor was killed in the attack, and another died of their wounds on Monday. 

One contractor was also injured in a rocket attack at Balad Air Base in Salahaddin on Saturday. 

The Green Zone, which hosts many foreign embassies, was last attacked in late December, when multiple rockets landed near the US embassy. 

Rocket attacks on foreign military and diplomatic sites in Iraq are frequent, especially since Washington's assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi).

The Green Zone and sites hosting foreign personnel across Iraq have often been targeted by rocket attacks, mostly attributed to Iran-backed militias. 

Iran-backed militias announced a “conditional” ceasefire in October, suspending attacks targeting US personnel and facilities provided that the United States withdraws from Iraq.

It was broken by a rocket attack on the Green Zone on November 17, killing a child and injuring five other civilians, just hours after the Pentagon announced it was reducing United States military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Updated 9:48pm