Middle East war: Iraq warns of strikes near prison housing Islamic State group detainees

Baghdad: Iraq warned on Sunday that drone attacks near Baghdad airport threatened the security of the nearby prison housing Islamic State group suspects recently brought from Syria.

In February, the United States completed the transfer of 5,700 IS detainees from Syria to Iraq.

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They have been held since in Baghdad's al-Karkh prison, once a US Army detention centre known as Camp Cropper, which is part of Baghdad airport's complex.

Justice ministry spokesperson Ahmed Laibi said in a statement that "the areas surrounding Baghdad International Airport and the airport prison (Al-Karkh Central) have been subjected to repeated strikes".

Some strikes hit "near the facility, raising concerns regarding the impact on the security of a prison that houses high-risk terrorist inmates", Laibi added.

The most intense strikes took place Saturday hitting "in very close proximity to the prison", he said.

Since the start of the Middle East war, Tehran-backed armed groups have been claiming daily drone and rocket attacks against US bases in Iraq.

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Baghdad airport houses a US diplomatic facility and until recently also hosted troops from the US-led international coalition against jihadists.

Laibi said while security measures were in place to "ensure stability", "the frequency of these attacks and the proximity of falling projectiles remain a cause for concern".

IS swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, committing massacres and forcing women and girls into sexual slavery.

Backed by US-led forces, Iraq proclaimed the defeat of IS in the country in 2017, and the Kurdish-led Syrian forces ultimately beat back the group in Syria two years later.