Michael Pompeo postpones Ukraine visit after attack on US embassy in Iraq

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Wednesday postponed his visit to Ukraine, after its embassy in Iraq was besieged by Shiite protesters following airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Wednesday postponed his visit to Ukraine, after its embassy in Iraq was besieged by Shiite protesters following airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. "Secretary Pompeo must postpone his visit to Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Cyprus due to the need for the Secretary to be in Washington, D.C., to continue monitoring the ongoing situation in Iraq and ensure the safety and security of Americans in the Middle East," State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement, as cited by CNN.

State Department spokesperson also apprised about the current development, saying, "the situation around Embassy Baghdad has improved," but that effort by Iraqi government security forces "to clear militia members from the area immediately surrounding the embassy continue." On Tuesday, the United States had said that it was sending additional troops to the Middle East, after hundreds of protesters stormed its embassy in Iraq, chanting -- 'Death to America!'

Protesters broke into the US embassy compound in Baghdad, smashed windows, set fire to outbuildings following US air-strikes at five facilities linked to Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia in Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile, Washington has maintained that the attack was "orchestrated by terrorists," one of whom he named as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Al-Muhandis has been identified by the US as the second-in-command of the Tehran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi group, which includes Kataib Hezbollah, the group that was hit in the US air raids. (ANI)