Explosion near the house of Iraqi Parliament Speaker al-Halbousi

The house of the Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Mohamed al-Halbousi, was attacked yesterday in the district of Al-Karma in the governorate of Al-Anbar.

According to Agence France Presse, two children were injured when three Katyusha rockets fell in the vicinity of al-Halbousi’s house. They were transferred to al-Karma Hospital, hours after the Federal Court ratified his re-election as speaker of parliament.

A senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity: The Katyusha rockets landed 500 meters away from al-Halbousi’s house in al-Karma district, Anbar province, west of Baghdad. Russia Today said the rockets landed in al-Halbousi hostel.

The attack targeted the speaker of parliament, the official said, but he did not know if al-Halbousi was in the house at the time.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh said the timing of the attack on the parliament speaker’s office was aimed at national and constitutional interests, adding that it was an act of repugnant terrorism.
Al-Halbousi, the 41-year-old leader of the Sunni Progress Alliance, was re-elected speaker of parliament and had headed the previous one since 2018

In recent days, attacks have targeted several parties that could ally with al-Sadr’s Movement to form a parliamentary coalition in order to agree on a figure to head the government after the legislative elections that took place last October 10. This confirms the relationship between the pro-Iranian Shiite militias and the opposition to al-Sadr’s tendencies with these strikes.

Ten days ago, the headquarters of al-Halbousi’s party in al-Adhamiyah was attacked with improvised explosive devices; two guards were injured, according to Iraqi media and social media activists.