Iraqi Killed, Four Wounded by Syria Mortar Fire

Mortar rounds or rockets fired from Syria killed a young Iraqi girl and wounded four people in a border town in western Iraq, an army officer and the interior ministry said on Saturday.

Captain Ali Juwayir from Anbar Operations Command said four mortar rounds hit al-Qaim shortly before midnight on Friday, adding that two homes in the town were struck.

Juwayir said a four-year-old girl was killed and four other people were wounded, a toll confirmed by Dr. Mustafa Shawki of al-Qaim hospital.

The Iraqi interior ministry, meanwhile, said in a statement that "four rockets launched from the Syrian side... resulted in the wounding and martyrdom of some of our citizens."

It did not provide details on the casualties.

"Iraq has maintained a stance of neutrality on the Syrian conflict," the statement said, but "our brave forces are ready to... respond in the event of a repetition such as this aggression."

Al-Qaim lies across the border from Albu Kamal, which has been the scene of fighting between Syrian soldiers and fighters opposed to President Bashar Assad's regime.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, two children were killed early on Friday when Albu Kamal was shelled.

On Wednesday, insurgents attacked Hamdan military airport near Albu Kamal, the Observatory said.

Protests against Assad's rule that began in March 2011 were met with a heavy-handed crackdown by his regime, and the situation has since escalated into a bloody civil war.