Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani has ordered an investigation into the security forces responsible for an area where an attack on the US embassy was launched.
Several rockets were fired at dawn on Friday towards the Green Zone in Baghdad where the US embassy is located. Some rockets landed in the embassy compound while several others hit the headquarters of the National Security Service, according to Iraqi security officials. The attacks caused no casualties, they said.
The rocket launcher used was found on Abu Nawas Street, across the Tigris River from the Green Zone.
“The officers and service members in that sector have been referred to specialised investigative committees to hold the negligent accountable,” Maj Gen Yahya Rasool, the military representative for the Prime Minister, said.
“It was decided to replace the presidential regiment with a regiment from the special unit to secure,” he said.
It was the first attack directed at the heavily fortified area which is home to government offices and embassies, since Iran-backed Iraqi militias resumed attacks on US troops following the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
Mr Al Sudani denounced the attack as “acts of terrorism” and vowed to apprehend those responsible.
“Targeting diplomatic missions is unjustifiable and unacceptable under any circumstances, regardless of the claims and illusions behind these reprehensible actions,” he said.
“The perpetrators of these attacks harm Iraq, its stability and security.”
No group claimed responsibility, but previous attacks against US forces have been carried out by Iran-aligned militias operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Mr Al Sudani, accused Iran-aligned armed groups Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba of carrying out the attacks.
“The United States reserves the right to respond decisively against those groups,” Mr Austin said, according to a Pentagon statement summarising the call.
A US military official told Reuters that seven mortar rounds landed in the embassy compound.
US forces, based in Iraq and Syria as part of the global anti-ISIS coalition, have been attacked at least 84 times since October 17, the official said.
The US has responded with a series of strikes that have killed at least 15 militants in Iraq and about seven in Syria.
The head of the Kataeb Sayyid Al Shuhada militia, one of the main Iraqi factions that has been targeting US forces in the region, said that he rejected “stopping or easing operations” while “Zionist crimes continue in Gaza”.
Abu Ali al-Askari, a senior official in Kataib Hezbollah, also vowed to continue attacks against US assets in Iraq and Syria.
The US has 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighbouring Syria to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, which in 2014 seized vast areas of both countries but was later defeated.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
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UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
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War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
OPTA'S PREDICTED TABLE
1. Liverpool 101 points
2. Manchester City 80
3. Leicester 67
4. Chelsea 63
5. Manchester United 61
6. Tottenham 58
7. Wolves 56
8. Arsenal 56
9. Sheffield United 55
10. Everton 50
11. Burnley 49
12. Crystal Palace 49
13. Newcastle 46
14. Southampton 44
15. West Ham 39
16. Brighton 37
17. Watford 36
18. Bournemouth 36
19. Aston Villa 32
20. Norwich City 29
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
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