Iraq violence: US steps up security at embassy in Baghdad

Washington: The US has augmented security at its embassy in Baghdad, from where it has relocated some of its staff in the face of a militant advance in the country, the State Department has said. [caption id=“attachment_1572483” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image.[/caption] “At the request of the State Department, the US military is providing security assistance for our diplomatic facilities in Baghdad,” Pentagon Press Secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, said on Sunday. However, he did not provide any number of its personnel in protection of US Embassy in Baghdad. A small number of Department of Defense personnel are augmenting State Department security assets in Baghdad to help ensure the safety of US facilities, Kirby said. The CNN said between 50 and 100 US Marines and US Army personnel have arrived at the US Embassy in Baghdad. “The temporary relocation of some embassy personnel is being facilitated aboard commercial, charter and State Department aircraft as appropriate. The US military has airlift assets at the ready should State Department request them, as per normal inter-agency support arrangements,” Kirby said. According to the State Department Spokesperson, Jen Psaki, as a result of ongoing instability and violence in certain areas of Iraq, Embassy Baghdad is reviewing its staffing requirements in consultation with the State Department. “Some additional US government security personnel will be added to the staff in Baghdad; other staff will be temporarily relocated – both to our Consulate Generals in Basra and Erbil and to the Iraq Support Unit in Amman,” she said. “Overall, a substantial majority of the US Embassy presence in Iraq will remain in place and the Embassy will be fully equipped to carry out its national security mission,” Psaki said. PTI