Militiamen withdraw from US Embassy but Iraq tensions linger

In an orchestrated assault, hundreds of militiamen and their supporters broke into the US Embassy compound, destroying a reception area, smashing windows and spraying graffiti on walls to protest US airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia over the weekend that killed 25 fighters.

Baghdad: Iran-backed militiamen withdrew from the US Embassy compound in Baghdad on Wednesday after two days of clashes with American security forces, but Washington-Tehran tensions remain high and could spill over into further violence.

The withdrawal followed calls from the government and senior militia leaders. It ended a two-day crisis marked by the breach of the largest and one of the most heavily fortified US diplomatic missions in the world.

The attack and its volatile aftermath prompted the Pentagon to send hundreds of additional troops to the Middle East and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to delay a European and Central Asian trip.

In an orchestrated assault, hundreds of militiamen and their supporters broke into the embassy compound, destroying a reception area, smashing windows and spraying graffiti on walls to protest US airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia over the weekend that killed 25 fighters.

Washington blamed the militia for a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in the northern city of Kirkuk last week that killed a US contractor.