BAGHDAD: Three mortar shells landed inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone just after midnight local time on Friday, the Iraqi military said in a statement.
The mortars landed on an “abandoned lot,” resulting in “no casualties or physical damage,” the statement said.
A security source inside the Green Zone said the mortars landed near the Egyptian embassy.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes after days of intensifying protests in Iraq’s southern oil hub city of Basra.
Hundreds of protesters, angry over the neglect of their city’s collapsing infrastructure, took to the streets for a fourth day on Thursday, setting fire to political party offices and government buildings.
The mortar attack is the first such one in several years on the Green Zone, which houses parliament, government buildings and many foreign embassies.
In May 2016, three mortars landed near the Green Zone. Anti-corruption protesters, led by populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, breached the Green Zone twice that year, storming parliament and the cabinet office.
Sadr is now vying to form Iraq’s ruling coalition in an alliance with incumbent Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, his electoral bloc having come first in May’s national election.
The Green Zone was regularly targeted by mortars during the US occupation of Iraq that ended in 2011.
Three mortars land inside Baghdad’s green zone - Iraqi military statement
Three mortars land inside Baghdad’s green zone - Iraqi military statement
- The mortars landed on an “abandoned lot,” resulting in “no casualties or physical damage,” the statement said
- No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack
Syria says 120 Daesh detainees escaped prison; Kurdish website said 1,500 escaped
- The Syrian ministry said Syrian army units and ministry special forces entered Shaddadi following the breakout
CAIRO: Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that about 120 Daesh detainees escaped from Shaddadi prison, after the Kurdish website Rudaw reported that a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Farhad Shami, said around 1,500 Daesh members had escaped.
The Syrian ministry said Syrian army units and ministry special forces entered Shaddadi following the breakout. It said security forces had recaptured 81 of the escapees after search and sweep operations in the town and surrounding areas, with efforts continuing to arrest the remaining fugitives.
Earlier, the Syrian army said “a number of” Daesh militants had escaped a prison that had been under SDF control in the eastern city of Shaddadi, accusing the SDF of releasing them.
After days of fighting with government forces, the SDF agreed on Sunday to withdraw from both Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, two Arab-majority provinces they had controlled for years and the location of Syria’s main oil fields.
