Three Iraqi children and two women from the same family were killed on Monday. (Representative)
Baghdad, Iraq:
Three Iraqi children and two women from the same family were killed on Monday when a rocket targeting Baghdad airport, where US troops are stationed, fell on their home, the army said.
The latest in a series of attacks targeting US interests in Iraq, it came after Washington threatened to close its embassy and withdraw its 3,000 troops from the country unless the rockets stopped.
The attacks of the past year have claimed relatively few casualties, and Monday’s incident was notable for the number of civilians killed.
The military said it also injured two children.
Twitter accounts supporting Iran, the archenemy of the United States, regularly praise the attacks, but that was not the case on Monday, when no group immediately claimed responsibility.
A half-dozen hitherto unknown factions have claimed responsibility for similar attacks in recent months, under the banner of “Islamic resistance” against “the American occupier.”
But experts say they are a smokescreen and include former members of pro-Iranian factions of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance, a state-sponsored network close to Tehran.
The deaths of civilians could put the responsible group in an uncomfortable position with an audience exhausted by years of violence from various armed groups.
The Iraqi military on Monday accused “criminal gangs and outlaw groups” of seeking to “create chaos and terrorize people”.
Between October and July, at least 39 rocket attacks targeted US interests in Iraq. Almost the same number has occurred again since.
A total of four soldiers – two British, one Iraqi and one American – as well as an American and Iraqi contractor were killed in the attacks, while several civilians were injured.
Iraqi intelligence sources attributed the attacks to a small group of radical paramilitary factions backed by Iran.
– “The honeymoon is over” –
Senior US officers today view pro-Iranian armed groups as a greater threat than the jihadist group Islamic State, which once held a third of Iraq.
Washington demanded that Baghdad take decisive action.
But Iraq must strike a delicate balance with American influence and that of neighboring Iran, which arms, finances and supports various armed Shiite factions.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this month called Iraqi President Barham Saleh and threatened to close the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraqi and foreign officials told AFP.
It was seen as yet another blow to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who took office as prime minister in May.
Despite being seen as Western, US officials accused him of not doing enough against pro-Iran groups.
An Iraqi official told AFP: “The honeymoon is over.”
The US ultimatum was followed by threats of sanctions against senior political and military officials.
Populist Shia cleric and politician Moqtada Sadr has since called for a commission of inquiry into the rocket attacks, a proposal backed by Kadhemi.
The paramilitary Hashed alliance sacked several commanders accused of links to attacks against Western interests, while denying responsibility for the acts of groups claiming Hashed links and “carrying out illegal military acts against foreign interests”.
But more extremist groups have stepped up the anti-American rhetoric.
A Western official told AFP on condition of anonymity: “If Washington follows and withdraws its people, these groups can boast of having expelled the Americans from Iraq at little cost.
