Reuters/Baghdad
Six airlines from the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Lebanon suspended flights to Baghdad yesterday after bullets hit an airplane operated by budget carrier Dubai Aviation Corp, known as flydubai, as it was landing at Baghdad airport.
Iraqi Transport Minister Bayan Jaboor said the plane was hit at an altitude of 600m by gunfire from what he judged was a light machinegun.
He did not rule out that Monday’s shooting could be a militant action but said security forces had identified the source.
A security official said authorities had rounded up suspects in farmlands south of the airport, which lies on the city’s western outskirts.
An aviation official said Iraq had briefly suspended air traffic on Monday following the incident but permitted it to resume yesterday morning.
However, flydubai, Emirates Airlines, Sharjah’s Air Arabia and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways suspended flights yesterday, in line with a directive from the UAE civil aviation authority.
The UAE’s state Wam news agency reported that the foreign ministry had summoned the Iraqi ambassador to Abu Dhabi to express serious concern about the incident.
Turkish Airlines and Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA) also suspended flights without citing the shooting incident. It was not clear when the airlines would resume service.
Company officials said Iraqi Airways and Iran’s Caspian Airlines were operating flights to Baghdad on a normal schedule.
Jaboor said those airlines had operated nearly 40 flights in and out of Baghdad yesterday.
Iraq’s Transport Minister Bayan Jaboor speaks to media at Baghdad airport yesterday.
