General view of U.S. embassy across the Tigris river in Iraq's capital Baghdad. (Photo: AFP)

Baghdad, December 20 (RHC)-- Iraqi sources say at least three Katyusha rockets have landed within the highly fortified Green Zone in the capital Baghdad whose apparent target has been the US embassy in the vicinity.

The rockets, which were fired late on Sunday, landed close to the U.S. diplomatic mission, two Iraqi security sources were quoted by Reuters as saying, causing sirens blaring within the compound without any casualties apart from some material damage.

One of the rockets was diverted by an anti-rocket system set up to defend the embassy, said a security official whose office is inside the Green House.  AFP reporters in the Iraqi capital's east said they had heard at least five booms, followed by whistling sounds.

A security source told AFP that at least three rockets hit near the U.S. mission, while two others hit separate residential neighborhoods.  The rockets reportedly hit a residential complex inside the Green Zone, damaging buildings and cars, but causing no casualties, the statement added.

The U.S. Embassy has been targeted several times this year, amid heightened anti-American sentiments in the Arab country in the aftermath of the U.S. assassination of Iran’s anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, and the deputy head of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Baghdad on January 3rd.