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Iraq Blames Iran for Missile Attack
BAGHDAD, July 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq blamed what it called "agents" of Iran for the missile attack on a residential area of central Baghdad leaving one person injured and causing damage Wednesday, Iraq's official news agency INA reported.
"Agents of the Iranian regime fired three 122-mm missiles on several houses in a residential quarter of Baghdad," a police spokesman said, quoted by INA.
He said the "cowardly" overnight attack left one injured and damaged homes in the Al-Karakh district on the west bank of the Tigris river that runs through Baghdad.
The attack was "the latest crime in a litany of evil crimes of this (Iranian) regime that is full of spite for the Iraqi people," the police spokesman charged.
"Iraq holds the Iranian authorities responsible for this criminal operation which is a flagrant aggression against its security and sovereignty," he said.
Baghdad "reserves the right to retaliate at the appropriate time", the official said, renewing threats of Iraqi retaliation for previous reported Iranian strikes on its territory.
Earlier an Iraqi official source said that agents of "imperialism and Zionism" could be behind this "criminal act". Police have started an investigation into the incident.
The attack appeared to be one of a series of sabotage activities the Iraqi authorities blamed on the opposition backed by Iran, news agencies reported.
A total of 19 Iraqis have been killed and at least 115 injured in attacks blamed on Iran since the start of 2000, according to a toll compiled by AFP from official Iraqi statements.
Baghdad claims that on April 18, six died and 36 were hurt in an Iranian surface-to-surface missile attack on Iraq.
Tehran said the attack, which added to strains in relations with its former foe, targeted the People's Mujahedeen, an Iranian armed opposition group that is based in Iraq.
Almost 13 years after a ceasefire in the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq have failed to normalize ties, notably because of support for each other's opposition groups and over prisoners of war.
Iraq said in June that it was not responsible for cross-border attacks carried out by the Mujahedeen, after Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Sadr said it was Iran's legitimate right to use force against the group.
"We have tried to solve the problems of opposition attacks on Iranian soil by negotiations with Iraq," Sadr said. "But unfortunately our goodwill has been interpreted as a sign of weakness by Iraqi officials."
Iran, meanwhile, hosts the Iraqi Shiite opposition group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
On March 16, two Iraqis were killed and 27 injured in a bomb attack in the Iraqi capital that Baghdad said was the work of the Iraqi opposition.
Five days later, six Iraqi civilians were hurt in a Baghdad explosion which the Iraqi authorities blamed on agents working for Iran.
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