Kuwait suspends Iraq flights after Baghdad airport attack
Source: AP
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
BAGHDAD (AP) — Kuwait suspended flights to Iraq for a week starting Sunday citing security fears after a rocket attack targeted Baghdad international airport. Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, announced an attacker had been apprehended.
Kuwait Airways, the country’s main carrier, said in a statement Saturday that flights to Iraq were temporarily suspended based on instructions from the Kuwaiti Civil Aviation Authority due to “current conditions.”
Six rockets struck the Baghdad airport last week damaging two commercial planes belonging to Iraqi Airways, the main national airline. The incident marked an escalation in rocket and drone attacks often targeting the U.S. and it’s allies, as well as Iraqi government institutions. The attacks have been blamed on Iran-backed militia groups.
Iraqi authorities said in a statement late Saturday they had apprehended a person allegedly behind the airport attack. The individual was arrested at a checkpoint near the northern province of Kirkuk en route to Irbil in the Kurdish-run semi-autonomous region. The statement provided no further details.
FILE - A damaged aircraft sits on the tarmac of Baghdad airport, after a rocket attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. Kuwait Airways, the country's main carrier, suspended flights to Iraq for a week starting Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, citing security fears after some six rockets struck the Baghdad airport last week damaging two commercial planes belonging to Iraqi Airways. Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, announced an attacker had been apprehended. (AP Photo/Ali Abdul Hassan, File)
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