Coalition, Iraqi troops wounded in second rocket attack on base north of Baghdad

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A new rocket attack on a military base north of Baghdad wounded five Iraqi soldiers and troops from the international US-led coalition against the Islamic State, Coalition spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins III said in a tweet on Saturday.

The incident occurred at 10:51 a.m. Saturday local time when a salvo of at least 45 Katyusha rockets “impacted” the Camp Taji base, which hosts coalition personnel and Iraqi forces, the coalition official said.

According to the Iraqi military communications center known as the Security Media Cell, the missiles were launched from the Abu’ Adham area, about two kilometers from Camp Taji, and where Iraqi forces found seven launch pads with 24 unfired rockets in them.

The statement added that a number of members of the National Air Defense were wounded and in critical condition but gave no further details.

The same base came under another such attack on Wednesday, killing two Americans and one British service member on site. Approximately 12 additional personnel were also wounded, according to a coalition statement on Thursday.

Washington has previously blamed Iran and Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups—such as Kata’ib Hizbollah—for similar incidents at Iraqi bases hosting American forces, as well as attacks appearing to target the US embassy compound in Baghdad.

Shortly after the first attack on Wednesday, airstrikes reportedly targeted bases operated by Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militias, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), on both sides of the Syria–Iraq border. Twenty-five militiamen were reported to have been killed in the strikes.

It was unclear who carried out the attack as the coalition, namely the US, denied involvement. Israel, however, has previously conducted such operations to limit Iran’s capability to make ordnance deliveries through Iraq and Syria to militant groups such as Lebanese Hizbollah.

A day later, US warplanes conducted a series of strikes on five Kata’ib Hizbollah facilities to “degrade” the group’s ability “to conduct future attacks.”  

Read More: US retaliates against Kata’ib Hizbollah in Iraq

Washington considers the group and its chief backer, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as terrorist organizations.

Iraqi President Barham Salih condemned what he described as a “terrorist attack” on Camp Taji and pledged to find and hold to account the perpetrators. A day later, he denounced the American and British response as a “violation of national sovereignty.”

After the second bombardment of Camp Taji, the Iraqi military said it would take all the necessary measures “to prosecute and arrest those who carried out the attack,” in reverberation to similar remarks following previous attacks on Iraqi bases that have occasionally led to the death and injury of members of the coalition.

However, it also said it rejects tit-for-tat actions by the two sides, adding that it only escalates the situation, which, the Iraqi military said, “necessitates the speedy implementation” of a parliamentary resolution passed earlier January calling for the withdrawal of coalition forces.

The parliamentary vote, with only Shia lawmakers participating in the session, came after a US airstrike killed top IRGC general Qasim Soleimani and deputy head of the PMF Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in response to prior attacks on American forces and facilities. 

Editing by John J. Catherine

(A previous version of this report incorrectly stated that Btitish warplanes participated in retaliatory strikes agains KH. This has since been corrected. The UK ambassador to Iraq has said that British forces had no role in the strikes.)