Attempted Assassination”: Explosives-Laden Drone Targets Iraq PM’s House
Iraq Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi escaped unharmed in an assassination attempt by armed drone in Baghdad on Sunday, officials said, in an incident that dramatically raises tension in the country weeks after a general election disputed by Iran-backed militia groups.
Six members of Kadhimi’s personal protection force stationed outside his residence in the Green Zone were wounded, security sources told Reuters.
Three drones were used in the attack, including two that were intercepted and downed by security forces while a third drone hit the residence, state news agency INA quoted a spokesman for the interior ministry as saying.
A spokesman for the armed forces commander in chief said the security situation was stable inside the fortified Green Zone, which houses the residence, government buildings and foreign embassies, after the drone attack.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
It came two days after violent clashes in Baghdad between government forces and supporters of Iran-backed political parties, most of which have armed wings, since those groups lost dozens of seats in parliament after a general election on October 10.
Kadhimi has ordered an investigation into the deaths and injuries of demonstrators and security forces in those clashes.
President Barham Salih condemned the attack as a heinous crime against Iraq. “We cannot accept that Iraq will be dragged into chaos and a coup against its constitutional system,” he said in a tweet.
Shi’ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose party was the biggest winner in last month’s election, calling the attack a terrorist act against Iraq’s stability that aimed to “return Iraq to a state of chaos to be controlled by non-state forces”.
The US State Department condemned the attack and offered assistance with the investigation.
“This apparent act of terrorism, which we strongly condemn, was directed at the heart of the Iraq state,” spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
