Armed drone shot down over US embassy in Baghdad; no casualties

Nearly 50 attacks have been launched against US interests in Iraq since the start of the year, prompting Washington to offer up to $3 million for information about the perpetrators.

A general view of the US Embassy at the Green zone in Baghdad, Iraq January 7, 2020.
Reuters

A general view of the US Embassy at the Green zone in Baghdad, Iraq January 7, 2020.

US forces have shot down an armed drone above their embassy in Baghdad, Iraqi security officials said, hours after a rocket attack on a base housing US soldiers in the west of the country.

American defence systems fired rockets into the air in Baghdad on Monday night, according to AFP reporters, with Iraqi security sources saying the salvos took out a drone that was laden with explosives.

Since the start of the year, 47 attacks have targeted US interests in the country, where 2,500 American troops are deployed as part of an international coalition to fight the Daesh terror group.

Six of them involved these kinds of drones, a tactic that poses a headache for the coalition as the aircraft can evade air defences.

READ MORE: Rockets hit Baghdad airport base housing US troops 

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Drone attacks

In April, a drone packed with explosives hit the coalition's Iraq headquarters in the military part of the airport in Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital.

The next month, a drone packed with explosives hit the Ain al Assad air base housing US troops.

On June 9, three explosives-laden drones targeted Baghdad airport, where US soldiers are also deployed. One was intercepted by the Iraqi army.

In a sign that the United States is concerned about new drone attacks, it recently offered up to $3 million for information on attacks targeting its interests in Iraq.

Separately on Monday, three rockets targeted an Iraqi air base in the western desert that also housed US troops, the international coalition said.

The attack targeted the base at Ain al Assad without causing any casualties.

READ MORE: Rockets hit Iraqi military base hosting Americans

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