Iraq official says drone crashed near US diplomats at Baghdad airport

BAGHDAD: A senior Iraqi security official told AFP that a drone crashed near a group of US diplomats inside the grounds of Baghdad’s airport earlier this week as they were escorting an American journalist freed after a recent kidnapping.

The account shed light on a statement issued Thursday by the US State Department saying it had summoned Iraq’s ambassador to Washington to express “strong condemnation” of attacks by pro-Iran groups on US interests, “including the April 8 ambush of US diplomats in Baghdad”.

Since the war in the Middle East broke out on February 28, the US embassy in Baghdad and a logistical and diplomatic centre inside the city’s airport have been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones, with most intercepted.

Pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq have claimed daily attacks on “enemy bases” in the country and the wider region, but had said on Wednesday they were suspending their actions after the announcement of a temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran.

Hours later, however, the US embassy reported renewed drone attacks near its facility at the airport.

According to the Iraqi official, “the diplomatic support centre was targeted on Wednesday by three drones”.

“One of them fell at least 50 metres from a diplomatic team accompanying the American journalist Shelly Kittleson,” they added.

Kittleson had been released by the powerful pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hezbollah on Tuesday, a week after she was kidnapped in Baghdad.

The attack delayed her departure from Iraq, though she was able to leave a few hours later, the source said.