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Six rockets target Baghdad airport, damaging plane

No flights were affected by the attack.

Published: Fri 28 Jan 2022, 4:09 PM

  • By
  • AFP

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A damaged stationary aircraft on the tarmac of Baghdad airport, after rockets reportedly tragetted the runway. – AFP

A damaged stationary aircraft on the tarmac of Baghdad airport, after rockets reportedly tragetted the runway. – AFP

Six rockets were fired Friday at the Iraqi capital's airport, causing damage but no casualties, security sources said, the latest in a string of attacks the US blames on Iran-linked militias.

The rockets hit Baghdad International Airport's runways or parking areas, a source at the interior ministry said, noting that a "civilian plane has been hit and damaged". The attack was not immediately claimed.

A second security source confirmed the attack consisted of six rockets that fell around civil installations at the airport, damaging a plane, while a third source identified the plane as a Boeing 767 belonging to state-owned Iraqi Airways.

Iraqi Airways posted on its social media pages pictures of the damage, consisting of a hole near the nose of the plane that was out of service and stationary at the time of impact. No flights were affected by the attack, the airline added.

Recent months have seen rocket and drone attacks target the US embassy in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, a US diplomatic facility at the airport and troops belonging to a US-led coalition stationed at Iraqi bases.

The attacks are rarely claimed but are routinely pinned on pro-Iran factions, who demand that US troops who were deployed to help Iraqi forces fight the Daesh group leave the country.

The past few weeks have also seen violence targeting Iraqi politicians and parties, largely consisting of grenade attacks, but also extending to one rocket assault near the home of a key politician, amid tensions surrounding the formation of a new government.



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