Baghdad hit by rockets

One rocket hit a bedroom of a Palestinian apartment

Iraq has blamed Iran for a rocket attack on the Iraqi capital Baghdad which it says injured eight civilians.

The area targeted was Baladiyat in eastern Baghdad where the capital's Palestinian community, including refugees, is concentrated.

Assessing the damage

The official Iraqi news agency INA said "agents in the pay of the Iranian regime fired six remote-controlled missiles at homes in Baghdad, injuring eight civilians who have been hospitalised".

One rocket hit a bedroom of a Palestinian-owned apartment, hurting six members of the same family.

An Iraqi security source said the attack happened at 2335 (1935 GMT) on Monday, but did not name the exact location.

"Iraq holds the Iranian authorities responsible for this cowardly attack and reserves the right to respond at the opportune time," INA said.

Iraq holds the Iranian authorities responsible for this cowardly attack and reserves the right to respond at the opportune time

Official Iraqi news agency, INA

It came the same night as a mortar strike on the Iranian capital Tehran injured six people. That attack was claimed by an Iraq-based Iranian armed opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen.

On 22 March, four people were killed and 38 injured in a mortar attack on Baladiyat district.

That attack, in apparent retaliation for a Mujahedeen-claimed mortar strike on March 13 near the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran that wounded at least four people, was also blamed on Iran.

The Mujahedeen, which has its headquarters in Baghdad and bases around Iraq, have condemned the "new savage crime by agents of the Iranian regime" and said the attack had "no link" to its latest operation in Tehran.

The presence of the Mujahedeen in Iraq is a stumbling block to a normalisation of ties between Baghdad and Tehran.

Iraq and Iran fought an eight-year war that ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1988.

The two countries have never signed a peace treaty and their relations since the end of the war have remained tense.