The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Iranian ambassador to Iraq to protest against Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region’s capital Erbil.
The attack has “caused damage to civilian facilities and homes of citizens, in addition to spreading fear among the residents of those areas,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry reiterated its “condemnation of the flagrant violation” of the sovereignty and territory of Iraq, stressing that such attacks will cast a shadow over the regional situation and make it more complicated.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has said 12 long-range ballistic missiles were fired at 1 a.m. local time on Sunday (2200 GMT Saturday) from the east outside Iraqi borders toward a new building of the U.S. consulate in Erbil and the surrounding residential areas, leaving one civilian injured.
The attack prompted the Iraqi Ministerial Council for National Security to issue a statement demanding “frank and clear explanations” from the Iranian side.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, IRGC, claimed earlier a missile attack on an Israeli base in Erbil, saying the move came in response to an Israeli airstrike on Syria’s capital Damascus on March 7, in which two IRGC officers were killed.
U.S. forces stationed at Erbil’s international airport complex have come under rockets and booby-trapped drone attacks by unknown militias in the past.
Xinhua/NAN
