BAGHDAD, Dec 20, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Two rockets targeted Baghdad's ultra-
secure Green Zone that houses the US embassy early Sunday, Iraq's security
forces said in a statement.

   "The Green Zone in Baghdad was the target of two Katyusha rockets. The
first was shot down in the air by C-RAM defence batteries, the second fell in
a square, damaging two vehicles," the statement said.

   A security source told AFP that the shot down rocket fell near the US
embassy, while the second came down roughly 500 metres (1,640 feet) away.

   Previously, the source told AFP that two rockets had been shot down near
the US embassy.

   Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for the US Central Command, told AFP the
incident caused no casualties.

   He said no shots hit the embassy or the so-called Union III area where US-
led coalition forces are based.

   No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

   In recent months, dozens of rocket assaults or drone bomb attacks have
targeted American troops and interests in Iraq.

   The attacks are rarely claimed but are routinely pinned on pro-Iran
factions.

   The latest rocket fire comes after the announcement this week of the end
of the "combat mission" in Iraq of the US-led coalition against the Islamic
State group.

   But roughly 2,500 American soldiers and 1,000 coalition soldiers will
remain deployed in Iraq to offer training, advice and assistance to national
forces.

   Pro-Iran factions in Iraq are calling for the departure of all US forces
stationed in the country.

   Sunday's attack also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the departure
of US troops from Iraq on December 18, 2011, after the invasion and overthrow
of former dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

   Washington then deployed its troops to the country in 2014 to fight IS,
which had captured large swathes of the nation in a lightning offensive.

   At the beginning of November, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi
escaped unharmed in an unclaimed drone bomb attack which targeted his
official residence in the Green Zone.

   In September, an "armed drone" attack targeted Arbil international airport
in Iraqi Kurdistan, where a base hosts coalition troops.