American officials acknowledged Friday that U.S. troops entered and searched parts of the Sudanese Embassy compound in Baghdad on Jan. 13. The acknowledgment came after Sudanese officials protested the action.

Earlier in the week, an American military spokesman in Baghdad said there was “no record” of a raid, but the military corrected that with Friday’s statement.

According to officials, U.S. troops entered the compound on Jan. 13 “after requesting entry to embassy guards,” the release read. “While in the compound, the soldiers encountered two locked doors for which the guards did not have keys. Following consultation with the guards, the doors were forced open.”

The search was carried out as part of an operation in the area to “deny insurgents safe haven,” the officials said. No items were removed from the embassy, they said, and nobody was detained.

Sudanese officials this week summoned the ranking American diplomat in Khartoum, lodging a complaint over the incident. The embassy has been closed for more than a year because of security threats, Sudanese officials said.

American troops earlier this month arrested five Iranians near Irbil. Iran has said they were diplomats.