Rockets hit runway at Baghdad airport

BAGHDAD: Three rockets were fired at Baghdad’s heavily guarded international airport on Friday, hitting a runway and plane but causing no casualties, a security source said.
Air traffic was not disrupted, but the ability of militants to strike such a site is likely to heighten concerns about the vulnerability of Iraq’s vital infrastructure as security deteriorates across the country.
One of the rockets landed outside the airport perimeter, but a second struck the runway and the third hit a plane, the source said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sunni Islamist militants including an Al-Qaeda affiliated group have been regaining momentum in Iraq over the past year, driving violence to its highest level in five years, with more than 9,000 people killed in 2013.
The Iraqi army has been engaged in a month-long standoff with anti-government fighters who overran the city of Falluja on Jan. 1. On Thursday, suicide bombers stormed a ministry building in the capital, killing 24 people including themselves.