Iran claims responsibility for missile strike in Iraq

ARBIL, Iraq: Iran claimed responsibility for a missile strike on Sunday on the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, saying it targeted an Israeli "strategic centre" and warning of more attacks.

Authorities in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region said 12 ballistic missiles rained down on Arbil in a pre-dawn cross-border attack targeting US interests that slightly wounded two civilians and caused material damage.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed they fired the projectiles, claiming they were targeting sites used by Israel, a top ally of the US. A "strategic centre for conspiracy and mischiefs of the Zionists was targeted by powerful precision missiles fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps", the Guards said in a statement.

There was no immediate reaction from Israel. Kurdish authorities insisted that the Jewish state has no sites in or anywhere near Arbil, and accused Iran of repeatedly targeting the autonomous region without international censure.

Iran holds considerable influence over the federal government in Baghdad, and Iraq is home to a dwindling number of US troops who lead a coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Washington has routinely blamed rocket and drone attacks on its interests in Iraq -- including sites in Kurdistan -- on pro-Iran groups who demand the departure of the remaining troops. But cross-border missile fire is rare. An AFP correspondent in Arbil said he heard three explosions before dawn.

Taxi driver Ziryan Wazir said he was in his car when the missiles struck. "I saw a lot of dust, then I heard a very loud noise. The windows of my car exploded and I was injured in the face," he said, his head swathed in white gauze and a bloodied scar running the length of his cheek.

Sunday’s missile assault comes nearly a week after the Guards -- Iran’s ideological army -- vowed to avenge the death of two of their officers killed in a rocket attack in Syria they blamed on Israel. Iran backs the government in Syria’s civil war. Israel, the Guards said at the time, "will pay for this crime".