UPDATE - Rockets hit Baghdad airport, damage civilian aircraft

UPDATES WITH REMARKS BY IRAQ'S PM

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) – Six Katyusha rockets hit Baghdad International Airport on Friday, an Iraqi police officer said.

"Six Katyusha rockets targeted the airport and its vicinity at dawn on Friday," a police official told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The attack caused significant damage to a civilian aircraft, the official said, adding no casualties were reported.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said the airport attack was an "attempt to defame the country," vowing a "decisive" response against the "dangerous" attack.

In a statement issued by his office, Al-Kadhimi said this "cowardly terrorist act revealed the criminals' insistence to hit the Iraqi people's security, and endanger their interests."

He pointed out that the attack "is a new bid to undermine Iraq's reputation, which we have striven to restore on the regional and international levels."

"The attack also aims to undermine the efforts of Iraqi Airways to develop its work and openness to the global airspace," he added.

The premier appealed to the "countries friendly to Iraq not to place restrictions on travel or air transportation to and from Iraq."

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat and Ali Abo Rezeg