Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has survived an assassination attempt after drones laden with explosives targeted his residence in the capital, Baghdad, in an incident that raises tensions in the country weeks after a general election disputed by Iran-backed militia groups, Al Jazeera reports.
Al-Kadhimi appeared in video footage published by his office on Sunday, chairing a meeting with top security commanders to discuss the drone attack.
“The cowardly terrorist attack that targeted the home of the prime minister last night with the aim of assassinating him, is a serious targeting of the Iraqi state by criminal armed groups,” his office said in a statement after the meeting.
Security sources told the Reuters news agency that at least six members of the prime minister’s protection force were wounded in the attack.
Security forces in the area shot down two drones, and a third hit al-Kadhimi’s residence in Baghdad’s Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies, Interior Ministry Spokesman Saad Maan told state television al-Iraqiya.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack.
Al-Kadhimi said that those behind an attempt on his life were well known and would be exposed.
“We will pursue those who committed yesterday’s crime; we know them well and we will expose them,” he said, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
Iraqi President Barham Salih called the attack a “terrorist aggression” and a “heinous crime” against Iraq.
