Rocket blast hits Baghdad as Arab summit begins

March 29, 2012 - 18:05 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A rocket exploded on the edge of the fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, March 29 where an Arab League summit attended by nine heads of state was taking place, a senior security source said, according to Reuters.

The rocket was fired despite a security clampdown in Baghdad, where 100,000 extra security forces have been deployed, streets closed and a curfew imposed on vehicles.

“The blast happened close to the Iranian embassy. The windows of the embassy have been shattered, but there are no casualties,” the source told Reuters.

Two more rockets hit the western district of Washash and Rahmaniya in central Baghdad, the source said.

Iraq is hosting the Arab League summit for the first time in 20 years and is keen to show its neighbours it can maintain security following the withdrawal of U.S. troops in December, nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

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