Blast heard in Baghdad as rockets fall near US Embassy


Two rockets hit near the U.S. embassy in Iraq's capital Sunday, witnesses told AFP, hours after the ambassador was summoned over a U.S. strike that killed top Iraqi and Iranian commanders.

Sunday's attack was the second night in a row that the Green Zone was hit and the 14th time over the last two months that U.S. installations have been targeted.

A third rocket simultaneously hit a family home outside the Green Zone, wounding four, medical sources told AFP.

Ties between Iraq and the U.S. have deteriorated after an American drone attack Friday on the Baghdad international airport that killed Iran's Major General Qasem Soleimani and top Iraqi military figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The precision strike came just days after a pro-Iran mob attacked the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

In response on Sunday, Iraq's parliament called on the government to oust U.S. and other foreign troops from the country.

Some 5,200 U.S. soldiers are stationed across Iraqi bases.

They are deployed as part of the broader international coalition, invited by the Iraqi government in 2014 to help fight Daesh.