The source said that no embassy staff was harmed during the incident.
Baghdad:
A source familiar with the matter and a Reuters witness said hundreds of protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday morning and set it on fire.
The source said no embassy staff were harmed and declined to provide further details. Officials at the Swedish embassy in Baghdad did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The protest was called by supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr before Sweden feared the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Quran – which has in the past led to widespread protests and condemnation in Muslim-majority countries.
A series of videos posted by One Baghdad, a popular Telegram channel supporting Sadr, showed people gathering around the embassy at around 1 am on Thursday (2200 GMT on Wednesday) and storming the embassy compound about an hour later.
Later videos showed smoke rising from a building in the embassy compound. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Rioters are currently attacking and setting fire to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. pic.twitter.com/SUDGCP2W4V
– OSINTDefender (@sentdefender) 20 July 2023
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was inside the embassy at the time of the attack.
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