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Building on the grounds of the US Embassy in Baghdad (2011)
Photo: LUCAS JACKSON / REUTERS
The US is again exposed to air attacks in Iraq.
The US military shot down an armed drone over their embassy in Baghdad on Monday evening.
Defense systems fired rockets into the air, according to Iraqi security forces, rendering the drone incapable of fighting.
The news agencies AFP and Reuters report unanimously.
Hours earlier, according to AFP, there had been a missile attack on a base with US troops in western Iraq.
Since the beginning of the year, 47 attacks have been carried out on US targets in the country in which 2,500 soldiers dispatched by Washington are still stationed as part of an international coalition in the fight against the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS).
Six of the attacks were carried out with drones that can evade the US defense system.
Militia chief announces retaliation
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
According to experts, however, they bear the signature of pro-Iranian groups.
According to AFP, the fact that the US is taking the drone attacks seriously was recently made clear by the fact that Washington offered three million dollars for information about the attacks.
As reported by the AP news agency, Abu Alaa al-Walae, leader of the Shiite militia Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada ("Brigade of the Lords of Martyrs") announced retaliation for US air strikes on the Iraqi-Syrian border at the end of June.
According to the AP, four members of the militia were killed.
The target of the attacks ordered by US President Joe Biden were, according to US information, operational weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq.
The "Brigade of the Lords of Martyrs" is an Iraqi jihadist militia that is said to have close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
AFP / Reuters
