updates
Videos show large explosions
Iran allegedly fires missiles at US consulate in Iraq
3/13/2022 1:24 am
According to a media report and the Iraqi news agency INA, several rockets were fired in the direction of the US consulate in Erbil in north-west Iraq during the night. The attack is believed to have come from Iran.
Like the Israeli newspaper “Jerusalem Post” With reference to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), several rockets were fired in the direction of the US consulate in Erbil in northwestern Iraq on Sunday night. The information has not yet been independently verified.
According to the INA, five explosions were heard during the attack. An AFP correspondent in Erbil heard three explosions. Other accounts report up to nine rockets. The Reuters agency, citing government officials, reports that there have been no casualties among military personnel in Erbil. There are said to have been no other injuries or deaths in the attack.
Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnav said several rockets had landed in the area, although it was unclear whether the target was the US consulate or the city’s airport. Videos circulating on social media show several large explosions in the area.
According to the Jerusalem Post, independent open source intelligence accounts (a term from the world of intelligence services that collects information from freely available, open sources for intelligence purposes) have distributed videos that are said to come from Iranian civilians and allegedly show that missiles were being fired from Iran at the time of the attack. According to the newspaper, at least one of the videos could be traced to a location in Khasabad in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, reacted to the attack on Saturday evening and said: “I strongly condemn the terrorist attack on parts of Erbil and call on the brave and patient people of Erbil to be patient and follow the instructions of the security authorities .”
According to Kurdistan 24, the studio of the TV station in the area was also damaged in the attack. On the Facebook account Kurdistan 24 reports live about the rockets and the devastated studio.
The rocket attack comes at a time when negotiations in Vienna on returning to the nuclear deal with Iran have stalled. Before that, however, there had been substantial progress in the negotiations. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell tweeted on Friday that talks needed a “pause” due to “external factors”. Borrell added that a final text is “essentially ready” and “on the table”.