Missiles strike Baghdad airport as Iraq launches fresh anti-IS operation

"Three rockets were fired at Baghdad International Airport late last night, when two rockets landed outside the airport and the third landed on a citizen's house in the Al-Jihad neighbourhood adjacent to it,” Iraq’s Security Media Cell said in a statement.

"The fall of the missile on the citizen's house caused material damage, but no casualties were recorded,” it added.

No one claimed responsibility for the latest rocket attacks, but the US has blamed Iran-aligned militia factions for repeatedly targeting its assets in Iraq.

In January, Washington attributed a missile attack on the airport to Kataeb Hezbollah, which operates under the umbrella of the Tehran-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi network.

Similar attacks on Baghdad’s airport occurred in September and July last year, though no one claimed responsibility.

The Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades had threatened to target the locations of the American forces after they failed to withdraw following parliament’s calls for US troops to leave the country.

IS operation

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service launched the "Revenge of the Martyrs" operation, directed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, responding to a double IS attack in a crowded market in the capital’s Tayaran Square on Thursday.

At least 32 were killed and over 110 wounded in the country’s deadliest attack in three years.  

The service said in a statement that the operation will target IS remnants, adding several militants in the Baghdad governorate were already arrested.

The operation will be expanded in Baghdad and other provinces over the next few days.

The media office of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi said in a statement on Thursday “an investigation is to be opened immediately, to determine the causes of this security breach, and to pursue terrorist cells that facilitated the passage of terrorists and commit their heinous crime.”

Al-Kadhemi called “to mobilise the security forces to preserve the citizen’s security and to take measures to ensure this in the field.”

The IS militant group posted a claim of responsibility for the attack on its online propaganda channels shortly after the devastating attack.

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