Police said three Katyusha rockets, launched at around 3 a.m. local time on Monday, hit the Burjesia district which houses foreign oil workers and offices of both foreign and Iraqi oil companies, west of Basra.

No damage or casualties have been reported in the district which has been largely empty in recent weeks due to the evacuation of almost all foreign personnel over the coronavirus pandemic.

According to two officials with state-run Basra Oil Co. (BOC) which oversees oil operation in the south production and export operations had not been affected by the attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Police sources said they found a rocket launcher and some unused rockets in a close farmland area.

In recent months, the high-security Green Zone in the capital, Baghdad, has been repeatedly targeted by Katyusha rockets.

The US military has used such attacks as a pretext to pressure the Iraqi government to disband the country’s popular anti-terror groups, which are now integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces, and staged airstrikes on their positions along with Israel.

The latest developments come after reports that the Pentagon has ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of American combat in Iraq.

Last week, Iraq’s anti-terror resistance groups reiterated their readiness to counter any possible attack by US occupation forces, saying that they are also on high alert for any false-flag US operation.