Protesters attack US Embassy in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: Iraqi supporters of pro-Iran factions attacked the US Embassy here on Tuesday, breaching its outer wall and chanting "Death to America!" in anger over weekend air strikes that killed two dozen fighters.

It was the first time in years protesters have been able to reach the US embassy, which is sheltered behind a series of checkpoints in the high-security Green Zone. A stream of men in military fatigues, as well as some women, marched through those checkpoints to the embassy walls with no apparent reaction from the Iraqi security forces. The demonstrators threw rocks and wrenched security cameras off the walls, ignoring calls over megaphones to leave the embassy compound.

In response, US guards fired an initial volley of bullets, then switched to tear gas and flash bang stun grenades to disperse thecrowd. The Hashed said at least 62 people were wounded.

Caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said the crowds that had stormed the US embassy should leave the compound "immediately". "We recall that any aggression or harassment of foreign embassies will be firmly prohibited by the security forces," Abdel Mahdi´s office said several hours after the attack began.

Following his statement, some of the crowd pulled back but others set up tents, swearing to pursue a sit-in. The demonstrators were protesting US air strikes that killed at least 25 fighters from a hardline Hashed faction known as Kataeb Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) on Sunday. Meanwhile, the government warned that its relations with the United States were at risk after the deadly US air strikes against sparked anger on the streets.

Baghdad said it would summon the US ambassador while Washington responded by accusing Iraqi authorities of having failed to "protect" US interests. "American forces acted on their political priorities, not those of the Iraqis," a statement said, adding that such strikes "violate the sovereignty of Iraq".

The attacks "force Iraq to review its relations and its security, political and legal framework to protect its sovereignty", the government added. US President Donald Trump in a Twitter message accused Iran of "orchestrating" the attack and said it "will be held fully responsible", but he also said he expected Iraq "to use its forces to protect the embassy".

"It´s their responsibility and duty to protect us. And they have not taken the appropriate steps to do so," a senior State Department official said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iraq that Washington will "defend its people".

In phone calls with both Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and President Barham Saleh, Pompeo "made clear the United States will protect and defend its people, who are there to support a sovereign and independent Iraq," the State Department said in a statement. Both Abdel Mahdi and Saleh assured Pompeo "that they took seriously their responsibility for and would guarantee the safety and security of US personnel and property," the statement said. Saudi Arabia Tuesday voiced "great concern" over attacks against American forces in Iraq, which Washington has blamed on pro-Iran factions, state media reported.

"Saudi Arabia has followed with great concern the increase of terrorist attacks inside brotherly Iraq... the most recent of which were attacks by terrorist militias supported by the Iranian regime against US forces present in Iraq," the Saudi Press Agency said, citing an unnamed official source.

"Saudi Arabia condemns and denounces these terrorist attacks... These attacks committed by terrorist militias violate the sovereignty of Iraq and affect its security and stability," said the statement.