Several loud explosions were heard on Tuesday evening in Iraq’s capital Baghdad, Agence France-Presse journalists reported, with a security official reporting a drone and rocket attack on the US embassy.
In a restaurant in the city, where diners did not react to the initial sounds of the blasts, a witness said he saw detonations caused by the embassy’s air defences intercepting projectiles.
Another witness saw a fire on the edge of the embassy grounds from her balcony, with the blaze also reported by the security official, who said it was caused by a drone.
“The embassy was the target of a drone and rocket attack,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Powerful Iran-backed armed group Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq demanded late on Tuesday that every “foreign soldier” leave the country, its security chief said.
“Iraq’s instability is due to the malicious American presence and security will not be achieved until the last foreign soldier leaves Iraqi territory,” the group’s new security chief Abou Moujahed al-Assaf said in a statement.