Missiles strike US embassy zone, army base in Iraq

Baghdad - The Iraqi military said there were no casualties.

Two mortar rounds hit the Iraqi capital's Green Zone on Saturday and two rockets slammed into a base housing US troops, security sources said, a day after a deadly American strike.
The precision drone strike outside the Baghdad airport on Friday killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, top Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis and a clutch of other Iranian and Iraqi figures.
In Baghdad, mortar rounds on Saturday evening hit the Green Zone, the high-security enclave where the US embassy is based, security sources said. The Iraqi military said that one projectile hit inside the zone, while another landed close to the enclave.
A pair of Katyusha rockets then hit the Balad airbase north of Baghdad, where American troops are based, security sources and the Iraqi military said.
Meanwhile, US-led forces helping Iraqi troops fight militants have scaled back operations, a US defence official said on Saturday.
"Our first priority is protecting coalition personnel," the official said, saying the US-led force had "limited" their training and other anti-militant operations. "It's not a halt," the source said, adding: "We have increased security and defensive measures at Iraqi bases that host coalition troops."
Meanwhile, Nato has suspended its training missions in Iraq, a spokesman for the alliance said on Saturday.
The Nato mission in Iraq, which consists of several hundred personnel, trains the country's security forces at the request of the Baghdad government to prevent the return of Daesh.

• MENA