Iraqi security forces stand guard near Baghdad's high-security Green Zone on October 31, 2021, after three rockets hit a neighborhood near where the US embassy is located. The so far unclaimed attack, the first to target the Green Zone since two rockets were fired on July 29, comes as authorities conduct a recount of votes cast in an October 10 parliamentary election. Photo: VCG

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi escaped unharmed from an armed drone assassination attempt in Baghdad, officials said on Sunday, in an incident that raised tension in Iraq weeks after a general election disputed by Iran-backed militia groups.

Kadhimi appeared in a video footage published by his office on Sunday chairing a meeting with top security commanders to discuss the drone attack.

"The cowardly terrorist attack that targeted the home of the prime minister last night with the aim of assassinating him, is a serious targeting of the Iraqi state by criminal armed groups," his office said after the meeting.

Six of Kadhimi's guards outside his residence in the fortified Green Zone were wounded, security sources told Reuters.

Three drones were used in the attack, including two that were downed by security forces while a third drone hit the residence, state news agency INA quoted an interior ministry spokesperson as saying.

A spokesperson for the armed forces commander in chief said that after the attack the security situation was stable in the Green Zone, which houses the residence, government buildings and foreign embassies.

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

President Barham Salih condemned the attack as a heinous crime against Iraq. "We cannot accept that Iraq will be dragged into chaos and a coup against its constitutional system," he said in a tweet.

The US, UN, Saudi Arabia and Iran condemned the attack.

Reuters