Security forces arrests suspect with links to Friday's rocket attack on Baghdad airport

Shafaq News/ Iraqi security forces apprehended a suspect in connection with the rocket attack on the Baghdad International Airport yesterday, Friday, two sources revealed earlier today.

A source told Shafaq News Agency that the suspect was captured at al-Sarha checkpoint in the north of Diyala.

"He is in the custody of al-Udhaim intelligence department for investigations," the source said.

The other source said that the arrestee is called Akram al-Qaysi. He was born in 1984 and currently resides in the Abu Ghreib district.

Yesterday, several rockets landed in the Baghdad International Airport compound and near an adjacent U.S. air base, damaging at least one disused civilian aeroplane, Iraqi police sources said.

The police sources did not report any other damage or any injuries. The damaged aircraft was an out-of-use Iraqi Airways plane, they said.

Iraq's state news agency reported, citing the country's aviation authority, that there was no disruption to travel.

The U.S. air base, known as Camp Victory, is located around the perimeter of Baghdad's civilian airport.

Rocket attacks have regularly struck the complex in recent years and are blamed by U.S. and some Iraqi officials on Iran-aligned Shi'ite militia groups who oppose the U.S. military presence in the region.

On Jan. 5, Katyusha rockets hit Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. forces near Baghdad's international airport and west of the Iraqi capital.

A series of attacks this month, some of which the United States blames on Iran-aligned militia groups, have targeted bases or installations hosting U.S. military and diplomatic personnel but have caused no U.S. casualties.

The Iran-aligned paramilitary groups have in previous years carried out dozens of similar attacks, mostly causing little harm. But the attacks have become more sophisticated in the past year, including with the use of fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones.