Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi was unscathed during an “assassination attempt” earlier on Sunday (November 7), when a drone full of explosives attacked him. The residence in Baghdad, this is a new escalation of the country’s turmoil after the election.
US President Joe Biden condemned the “terrorist attack” and expressed “sigh of relief.” Khadmi was not injured, while Iraqi President Barham Saleh said that this was an attempted “coup d’etat against the constitutional system.”
No organization claimed this attack.
Kadmi, 54 years old, has been in power since May 2020. He called for “calm and restraint” and then presided over a meeting in his office in the heavily guarded Green Zone of Baghdad, where the night attack occurred.
Security sources said that three drones were launched from near the Tigris Bridge, but two were intercepted, adding that two bodyguards were injured.
After the strike, gunshots sounded and smoke rose from the green zone, and Khadmi’s office referred to it as an “attempt assassination attempt.”
Biden “condemns in the strongest terms those who use violence to disrupt the democratic process in Iraq.”
‘timid’
Photos released by Kadhemi’s office show debris scattered on the ground below a damaged exterior staircase and a door that was removed.
Kadmi said in a short video: “My residence has always been the target of cowards. Praise God, I am fine.”
Two days ago, security forces clashed with supporters of Iran-backed political parties that lost support in the parliamentary elections on October 10 and accused them of being victims of voting violations.
The pro-Iranian Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network’s political branch of the Conquest (Fatah) coalition has dropped significantly, leading to its condemnation as “fraud”.
After the drone attack, Qais al-Khazali, one of Hashid’s main pro-Iranian groups and the head of Assaib Ahl al-Haq, called for the perpetrators to be “brought to justice.”
The United States has approximately 2,500 soldiers in the country. Biden stated that he has instructed his national security team to “provide all appropriate assistance to the Iraqi security forces as they investigate the attack and identify those responsible.”
NATO and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “strongly condemned” the attack, while the European Union stated that “the perpetrators must be held accountable.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on Iraqis to “maintain maximum restraint and reject all violence and any attempt to destabilize Iraq.”
Said Khatibzad, spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Iran urges “to be vigilant and thwart conspiracies aimed at undermining the security and development of Iraq.”
He blamed the United States, which led the invasion of Iraq in 2003, overthrew the dictator Saddam Hussein (Saddam Hussein) and triggered years of sectarian conflict.
“Such incidents are in the interests of those who have violated the stability, security, independence, and territorial integrity of Iraq over the past 18 years,” Khatibzad said.
“They are trying to achieve their sinister regional goals by creating terrorist organizations that seek to incite insurgency.”
Regional powers Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, as well as neighboring countries Jordan and Syria, and the United Nations aid mission in Iraq have also condemned.
Moqtada Sadr is an influential Shi’ite Muslim missionary whose political campaign was a big winner in the election. He condemned the drone strikes as “against Iraq and the Iraqi people.”
Renard Mansour, an analyst at the Chatham Institute think tank, said the attack was “obviously related to the process of government formation.”
Installation tension
The strike took place at a time when election tensions increased, and it was the fifth such vote since the 2003 US-led invasion.
On Friday, hundreds of Hashid supporters clashed with the police while protesting near the Green Zone to vent their anger at the preliminary results.
According to a security source, a protester was injured and died in the hospital, while a Hashid source said two demonstrators were killed.
On Saturday, hundreds of supporters of pro-Iranian groups returned to the edge of the Green Zone to protest. Some burned portraits of the prime minister, who they called “criminals.”
It is expected that the final election results will be obtained within a few weeks.
Kadhemi proposed a vote scheduled for next year to make concessions to anti-government protests of local corruption, unemployment, failure of public services, and Iran’s influence.
Activists accused Hashed’s armed forces-whose 160,000 fighters are now integrated into Iraq’s national security forces-for benefiting from Iran and acting as a tool of oppression against critics.
There have been other drone attacks in Iraq in the past few months, particularly against US interests.
