Iraq PM identifies assassins who attacked his home in Baghdad

The Prime Minister of Iraqi, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, at cabinet meeting on Monday revealed that the assassins who struck at his residence in Baghdad on Sunday for his assassination have been identified. Though, the Prime Minister did not give details of the detection of the assassins, he maintained that they are known very well by the government.

The armed drones deployed for the attack damaged the building and injured six guards of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had vowed: “We will pursue those who committed the crime;” stating: “We know them well.”

While no group has responsibility for the failed assassination attempt on the Iraqi Prime Minister, was behind the attack, the Iran-backed Shia Muslim militias are being suspected to be behind the failed assassination tempt. The armed drones were traced to Iranian weaponry product.

Security sources were gathered to have disclosed that at least one militia with Iranian-made drones and explosives was responsible for the attack.

Prime Minster Kadhimi had stated that he escaped the attack unhurt, however, he was noticed in a video posted online hours after the attack tying bandage round his left wrist.

Kadhimi, notwithstanding the trauma, emphasized before his cabinet that the attack was a “cowardly act” that did “not express the will of Iraqis”.

The prime minister maintained that the government had prevented Iraq from “slipping into a regional war” since it was formed in the wake of mass anti-government protests in late 2019, during which hundreds of demonstrators were killed by security forces and gunmen suspected of links to the Shia militias.

Kadhimi, declared: “We maintained security in the country, but some are still trying to tamper with Iraq’s security and want it to be a gang state.”

The militia struck in the storm of rising tension over the country’s parliamentary election in October that the Fatah alliance of parties representing the militias lost two-thirds of its seats.

The Fatah rejected the election outcome and have refused to accept the results. It was indicated that one person died during a protest on Friday where Fatah supporters were demanding a recount of the ballots. The protesters had confrontation with security operatives at the edge of Baghdad’s Green Zone stronghold, the home of the prime minister.

Iraqi Interior Ministry revealed that three drones were deployed in the attack on Sunday. He said that two of the drone were shot down by security forces, but the third hit the home of Prime Minister Kadhimi.

Video footage Reuter showed that the building was damaged in the exterior and interior, in addition to a vehicle parked outside the residence.

President Barham Saleh had condemned the attack as an attempted coup.

Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, whose nationalist alliance won majority seats in the election, decried that the attack was planned to “return Iraq to a state of chaos to be controlled by non-state forces”.

President Joe Biden of the United States (US) condemned “in the strongest terms those using violence to undermine Iraq’s democratic process”.

Spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, joined global voiced in condemning the attack. He asserted that “there are enemies working against a peaceful transfer of power in Iraq”.

The leader of the Fatah alliance, Hadi al-Ameri, was of the view that a “third party” was seeking to “create sedition”.

Iraqi security officials had revealed to that two militias in Fatah, Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, were involved in the attack on Sunday.