Multiple rockets fired into Iraq's Green Zone near US Embassy

US says it is prepared to retaliate if Iraq or Iran enact revenge attacks for killing of general
AFP via Getty Images
Bronwen Weatherby5 January 2020

A number of rockets have been fired into Iraq's Green Zone near the US Embassy.

A statement from Iraqi military said three Katyusha missiles hit on Sunday evening inside the capital of Baghdad's heavily fortified area which houses government buildings and foreign missions.

Three more rockets fell in the nearby Jadriya area injuring six people, the statement said.

The attack comes two days after General Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

Earlier today, Iraqi lawmakers voted to expel the US military from the country as tensions between the nations increased.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians hit the streets today to mourn his death and to protest against the American attack.

Iranians have vowed to take revenge following the assassination.

Boris Johnson commented on the crisis for the first time on Sunday since returning from his holiday in the Caribbean and said he had spoken to the US President Donald Trump.

Following the phone call, Mr Johnson warned that all calls for reprisals “will simply lead to more violence in the region and they are in no one’s interest” in the wake of the killing in Baghdad on Friday.

But a short while later, Mr Trump threatened to “strike back” and “perhaps in a disproportionate manner” if Iran strikes a US citizen or target

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the country's military will strike more Iranian leaders if the Islamic Republic retaliates to the killing.

He said: "We continue to prepare for whatever it is the Iranian regime may put in front of us within the next 10 minutes, within the next 10 days, and within the next 10 weeks.”

As rockets fell, it was confirmed three Americans, one US military service member and two contractors, were killed during an attack by Somalia's Al-Shabaab militant group on a military base in Kenya.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group attacked the base, used by US and Kenyan military personnel, in Kenya's Lamu County.

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