Johnson holds talks with Iraqi counterpart after Baghdad assassination attempt

Boris Johnson has condemned an attempt on the life of the Iraqi premier.

The Prime Minister spoke to Mustafa al-Kadhimi after the attack by armed drones on his residence in Baghdad.

Seven of the Iraqi leaders guards were injured in the assassination attempt, which Mr al-Kadhimi labelled “cowardly”.

A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Johnson “strongly condemned the attack on the prime minister’s home in Baghdad and offered his sympathies to those injured”.

“He made clear that the UK stands by the Iraqi people and supports the prime minister’s call for calm and restraint,” the spokesman said.

At least two drones are believed to have been involved in the attack in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone.

Mr al-Kadhimi escaped serious injury, and later appeared on television, seated behind a desk in a white shirt, looking calm and composed but with a bandage on his left hand.

“Cowardly rocket and drone attacks don’t build homelands and don’t build a future,” he said.