BAGHDAD, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Three rockets landed early Thursday in the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses the U.S. embassy in central Baghdad, the Iraqi military said.
"An outlawed group targeted the Green Zone at 2:00 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Wednesday) with three Katyusha rockets," the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement.
Two of the rockets landed inside the fortified zone: one near the headquarters of the Iraqi National Security Service and another landed in the Grand Celebrations square. The third landed in a residential area in the Sheikh Omer neighborhood outside the zone, damaging a civilian vehicle, the statement said.
The intelligence will track down those responsible for such attacks that target foreign diplomatic missions and endanger life, according to the statement.
An interior ministry source told Xinhua anonymously that sirens were heard in the zone during the attack, while the U.S. air defense system fired to intercept the rockets.
The heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses some main Iraqi government offices and the U.S. embassy, has frequently been targeted by insurgent mortar and rocket attacks. The zone of roughly 10 square km is located on the western bank of the Tigris River, which bisects the Iraqi capital. Enditem
