The perpetrators of a rocket attack on the US embassy in Baghdad are linked to local security forces, Iraqi officials have revealed.

The incident on December 7 was the latest in a series of attacks against American targets in the region by suspected Iran-backed forces.

Speaking on Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office called the attack on the embassy a “terrorist act”, and said a number of arrests had been made, with more expected to come.

The statement, issued by Special Forces Major General Yehia Rasool, did not name the suspects or identify which security services they were associated with.

According to an anonymous Iraqi security official cited by news agency AFP, 13 people had already been arrested, including members of the security forces.

The US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski on Thursday tweeted praise for the Iraqi authorities for “successfully apprehending a number of those responsible for the terrorist attacks”.

The attack on the embassy was the first in well over a year and came after weeks of incidents targeting US forces in the region that had been claimed by Iran-backed armed groups.

No group has specifically claimed responsibility for the December 7 attack and there were no reports of casualties or damage.

Approximately 90 attacks against US bases in Syria and Iraq have been launched by the Iranian-sponsored military alliance in the region since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.

The conflict was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas in which around 1,200 Israelis and other nationals were killed and more than 240 civilians kidnapped.