Rocket strikes Iraqi base housing US troops

A new rocket attack struck an Iraqi base on the outskirts of the disputed city of Kirkuk where American troops are stationed, the previous site of an earlier strike in late December that resulted in the death of an Iraqi-American contractor.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A new rocket attack struck an Iraqi base on the outskirts of the disputed city of Kirkuk where American troops are stationed, the previous site of an earlier strike in late December that resulted in the death of an Iraqi-American contractor.

“A missile landed inside the K1 base in the Kirkuk Province without significant losses,” read a statement from the Iraqi military communications center, the Security Media Cell.

“Security forces are conducting a search operation to find the perpetrators and located the launching pad that was carrying 11 unfired missiles,” the statement continued, adding that the confiscated material was “dealt with” accordingly.

US jets reportedly immediately took to the skies, but no additional information was released.

An earlier missile attack on the same base late last year killed a civilian contractor based there. Washington accused the Iranian-backed Kata’ib Hizbollah (KH) militia of being behind the strike and shelled the group's positions inside Iraq and Syria, killing dozens.

Read More: US strikes Kata’ib Hizbollah in Iraq and Syria 

Various Tehran-aligned militias then escalated further by directing members and supporters to storm the US embassy in the Iraqi capital, torching parts of it. Washington responded to this move by assassinating a top Iranian general, Qasim Soleimani, as well as the KH leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The tit-for-tat escalation culminated in the January 8 Iranian missile strike on the Ayn al-Asad airbase that caused, at first, the State Department reported had caused no US casualties. Later, it turned out that over 100 American servicemen suffered traumatic brain injuries in the attack, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly minimized since then without an explanation satisfactory to US veteran groups.

Read More: Iran strikes military bases in Iraq, Kurdistan housing US forces: Pentagon

Since then, there have been other attacks on bases hosting US forces as well as others on or near the US embassy in Baghdad. 

Editing by John J. Catherine