BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 20 (NNN-NINA) – An explosion was heard in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad on Sunday evening, while sirens could be heard following the blast, a security official said.
“A Katyusha rocket hit central Baghdad’s Green Zone without causing any casualties,” Yahya Rasoul, spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, said in a statement.
Another security official said that, a Katyusha rocket struck an empty area near the U.S. embassy in the Green Zone, causing no casualties.
He said, security forces found a rocket launcher in the Baladiyat neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad, which is believed to have fired the rocket on the Green Zone.
The heavily fortified Green Zone has been frequently targeted by insurgents’ mortar and rocket attacks. The roughly 10-square-km zone is located on the west bank of the Tigris River, which bisects the Iraqi capital.
On May 15, the U.S. State Department ordered non-emergency U.S. employees, working in both the embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil, to leave Iraq, according to a U.S. embassy statement.
Earlier, the U.S. military said, U.S. forces were on high alert in Iraq and Syria, over fears of “imminent threats” from Iran-backed forces in the region.
The U.S. measures came, amid the tense situation in the region, after U.S. President, Donald Trump, decided not to re-issue the sanctions waivers for major importers, to continue buying Iran’s oil when they expired in early May.
The United States has also increased its military buildup in the region recently, by deploying an aircraft carrier, bombers and anti-missile systems there, citing a threat of Iranian attack.– NNN-NINA
