An attack with drones loaded with explosives targeted the residence of the prime minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, in Baghdad, this Sunday (7) in the country (Saturday night in Brazil), but the prime minister escaped unharmed.
A statement from the prime minister’s office said the attack, called an assassination attempt, targeted Kadhimi’s residence in Baghdad’s green walled zone. Three drones were used, including two that the national security forces managed to intercept. The third, however, hit the spot.
A message posted on Kadhimi’s official Twitter account late at night said the prime minister was safe. During Sunday morning, he appeared in videos and photos presiding over an urgent meeting with ministers and military personnel.
“The cowardly terrorist attack that targeted the prime minister’s home last night with the aim of assassinating him is a serious attack on the Iraqi state by armed criminal groups,” Kadhimi’s office said in a statement released after the meeting. .
In another note, the prime minister said that those responsible for the attempt on his life were known. “We will pursue those who committed yesterday’s crime, we know them well and we will expose them.”
Iraqi military personnel also said Kadhimi was in “good health”, but six members of the prime minister’s personal protection force, who were outside his home, were wounded, according to a Reuters news agency.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack. A member of the Kataib Hizbullah, one of the most powerful Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, played down the attack and said none of the group’s members in the country wanted to “spend drones at the ‘former prime minister’s’ residence.” “There are cheaper and more effective ways to do this,” he added in a message on the Telegram app.
Western diplomats based in the green zone, which is home to government buildings and embassies, said they heard explosions and gunfire in the area.
The United States offers assistance in investigating the episode. “I am relieved to know that the prime minister was not hurt and I commend the leadership he has shown in calling for calm, moderation and dialogue to protect state institutions and strengthen democracy,” said US President Joe Biden.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the attack a “cowardly terrorist act”. Iran’s Security Council Secretary General Ali Shamkhani described it as “another insubordination”.
In Iraq, the action was also condemned. “We cannot accept the country being dragged into chaos and a blow to its constitutional system,” said President Barham Salih.
Protests by party members contesting the results of last month’s general election turned violent on Friday, when protesters hurled stones at policemen near the green zone, injuring agents. Police responded with tear gas and gunfire, hitting at least one protester, according to security sources and hospitals in Baghdad.
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose party won the election, said the “terrorist act [contra o premiê] aims to bring Iraq back into chaos to be controlled by parastatal forces.”
It is the fifth parliamentary election in the country since the fall of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, overthrown by the US-led invasion in 2003. After 18 years of occupation by US troops in the country, US President Joe Biden and Kadhimi signed an agreement in July to end the US combat mission later this year.
The pact, however, does not end the US presence on Iraqi soil: the US will remain in Iraq to train and advise the military, which means a small change in its role today, as this is already the current focus of the mission. Currently, about 2,500 American soldiers are in the country.
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