Child killed in rocket attack in Iraq near US embassy

A rocket attack near the US embassy in Iraq’s Green Zone has killed a child and wounded at least seven other people, signalling the end of a month-long informal truce announced by Iran-backed militias.

Iraqi security officials said that two personnel were wounded when several munitions landed inside the heavily fortified  area. One landed just 600 metres from the American embassy, next to the National Security Service, igniting fears of further attacks on US sites in the restive Iraqi capital.

Three other rockets landed outside of the Green Zone, with two barely missing the Baghdad Medical City hospital and a public park and a third exploding in the air, killing a child and wounding five civilians.

The Iraqi authorities vowed to hold the perpetrators of Tuesday’s attack accountable and blamed "some outlaw forces" that "undermine stability" and "serve their own interests”.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack it came just hours after the Pentagon announced it would be reducing its troops levels in Iraq from 3,000 to 2,500, a drawdown that will likely be considered too modest by Iran-backed armed factions that have demanded all US soldiers leave.

In mid-October, Iran-backed, mostly Shiite, militia groups like the Popular Mobilisation Forces said they would temporarily halt attacks hitting US presence and interests in Iraq, on the condition that coalition troops withdrew completely from the country in line with a non-binding resolution passed in the Iraqi Parliament in January.

The resolution was passed by mostly Shiite lawmakers and urged the government to take action and expel all the foreign troops.

Tensions in Iraq have soared after the US killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi Shia military leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in an airstrike in Baghdad on 3 January.  Since then dozens of rocket attacks have targeted the Green Zone, which is home to several foreign missions and Iraqi government offices.

The attacks are often claimed by little-known militias, which have vowed to expel US forces.

The frequency of the strikes on the US Embassy and vehicles transporting equipment for American troops have even led Washington to threaten to close its Baghdad diplomatic mission and move it to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, sparking a diplomatic crisis ahead of the US presidential election.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to bring troops home, and end the “forever wars” that the US is embroiled in. He appears set to try to push ahead with this before he has to leave office in January 2021.

But the Pentagon’s sudden announcement about the withdrawal from  Iraq and also Afghanistan, which will see troop numbers reduced from 4,500 to around 2,500, has sparked controversy.

The head of NATO Jens Stoltenberg has warned of the “high price” of the US leaving Afghanistan too soon. While Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has called the plan “a mistake”.

Mr McConnel also warned the president against making “any earth-shaking changes in regards to defence and foreign policy” before leaving the White House.

Mr Trump is yet to concede to Democrat Joe Biden and continues to  insist he has won the elections. The cuts are scheduled to take place five days before Mr Biden takes office on 20 January 2021.