Iraqi security forces said an explosion was heard at a US-led coalition military base at Baghdad International Airport late Tuesday, a day before a visit by Iran’s president.
“An explosion was heard in the area occupied by international coalition advisers inside Baghdad International Airport at 23:00 (2000 GMT),” according to a statement posted on the social media platform X by Iraqi Major General Tahseen al-Khafaji, a spokesman for the Joint Operations Command.
“Iraqi security forces were unable to locate the source of the explosion, for which no one has yet claimed responsibility,” the statement said, quoting Iraqi security forces and also published by state news agency INA.
He said there was no impact on air traffic and no flight was disrupted.
A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “two Katyusha-type rockets” caused the explosion.
“One bomb hit the wall of a compound housing Iraqi counterterrorism forces. The other bomb fell inside a base housing the Washington-led international anti-jihadist coalition,” the official said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was expected to arrive in Iraq on Wednesday on his first foreign visit since taking office in July.
Relations between Iran and Iraq, both Shia-majority countries, have grown closer over the past two decades.
Tehran is one of Iraq’s major trading partners and has considerable political influence in Baghdad, where its Iraqi allies dominate the parliament and the current government.
A spokesman for the Iran-backed Keta’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) armed group in Iraq described it as “an attack” aimed “at disrupting the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad.”
In a post on X, spokesman Ja’far al-Husseini called on Iraqi security services to identify the perpetrators.
Over the past year, US-led coalition forces in both Iraq and Syria have been targeted dozens of times by drone and rocket attacks, as violence related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has also attracted Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East.
The US military has carried out several retaliatory strikes against these groups in both countries.
To calm the situation and protect Iraq from the effects of regional tensions, the United States and Iraq are negotiating a phased withdrawal of American-led anti-jihadist forces.
The United States has deployed about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group.
Iraqi security forces say they are capable of dealing with remaining IS members without assistance as the group does not pose a major threat.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
