7 rockets focus on Iraq base housing US troops: security sources
Seven rockets targeted an Iraqi airbase housing US troops north of Baghdad on the subject of Monday, a reliability source said, the most recent in a string of attacks Washington routinely blames over Iran-linked factions.
The evening attack on Al-Balad did not cause any casualties or damage in the base, the security official said.
The other five rockets crashed right into a local village, he added, noting that seven were fired from a separate village in the neighbouring province of Diyala, east of the base.
There is no immediate claim of responsibility.
There were several such attacks in recent weeks targeting locations where US forces operate.
On March 3, an American sub-contractor was killed in an identical attack against another airbase, Ain Al-Assad, in Iraq’s western desert.
That came days following the US bombed a border depot found in neighbouring Syria which the Pentagon said was used by Iran-backed Iraqi armed militia that contain been tied to the rocket attacks.
US President Joe Biden described the February 25 raid as a “warning” to Iran.
Dozens of rocket episodes and roadside bombs targeted Western security, army and diplomatic sites in Iraq found in 2020, blamed by Iraqi and Western military options on hardline pro-Iran factions.
The attacks had come to a near-complete halt in October carrying out a truce with the hardliners, but have since resumed.
