Rocket attack on Baghdad Green Zone kills child, wounds five

Iraqi security forces inspect the scene of a rocket attack in Baghdad on November 18

Credit: Khalid Mohammed /AP

Rockets fired at Baghdad’s Green Zone on Tuesday night killed a child and wounded five civilians, Iraqi officials said, the first such attack since an informal ceasefire unilaterally declared by Iran-backed militias in October. 

Seven Katyusha rockets were fired in the attack, with four falling inside the highly fortified zone and three outside, according to an Iraqi military statement. No group has claimed responsibility.

Video shared online appeared to show US C-RAM air defences deploying against the rockets. 

The attack came shortly after the Pentagon announced US troop levels in Iraq would be reduced from 3,000 to 2,500 by mid-January.

Acting US Defence Secretary Christopher Miller said Tuesday that the decision would fulfil Donald Trump’s promise to end US involvement in lengthy wars. The US military previously announced the withdrawal of 2,000 troops from Iraq in September.

Iran-backed militias calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq have carried out a series of attacks on Western figures in the country since October 2019, killing a Briton, three Americans, and six Iraqis.

A roadside bomb targeted a British convoy in Baghdad in September, the first such attack against Western diplomats in years. 

Attacks on US targets increased after an American drone strike in Baghdad in January killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

In September, the US threatened to close its Baghdad embassy unless Iraqi authorities reined in militia attacks.

That was followed by an announcement by a group of militias in October that they would halt attacks on US interests if the Iraqi government obtained a timetable for a full withdrawal of American forces.

Kataib Hezbollah, one of the most powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militias, said the truce offered by a coalition of  pro-Iranian militias in October remained in place.

An Al Jazeera journalist reported that the group’s spokesman Mohammed Mohie said the "Islamic Resistance"  had no interest in antagonising the US during  its transition and was not responsible for the attack.