Iraq heightens security at airbase following string of attacks
Iraq has heightened security around an airbase in the country’s west that hosts American troops, an Iraqi general said on Sunday.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq has heightened security around an airbase in the country’s west that hosts American troops, an Iraqi general said on Sunday.
Security at the Ain Al-Asad airbase has been increased following a string of attacks targeting numerous airbases around the country, Major General Raad Mahmoud told The Associated Press.
According to Mahmoud, investigations are underway to determine who is responsible for the unclaimed incidents.
Two rockets landed at an airbase in Iraq’s disputed Kirkuk province on Friday evening, according to a security source, adding to a list of previous attacks targeting compounds hosting US military personnel in December.
Read More: Missiles strike Kirkuk airbase, killing US contractor, wounding others
“Two rockets struck Kirkuk’s K1 military base,” the source told Kurdistan 24, adding that a police officer had been wounded. A number of “American soldiers” are reportedly at the compound.
The Iraqi military communications center, known as the Security Media Cell, confirmed that the incident had occurred, saying, “a number of missiles” had landed at the base. It added that it would follow up with more details at a later time.
Following this, the international anti-ISIS coalition issued a statement explaining that the attack had killed one American civilian and wounded multiple US and Iraqi military personnel.
“One US civilian contractor was killed, and several US service members and Iraqi personnel were wounded in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk hosting Coalition troops,” it said.
The incidents come amid ongoing anti-government protests in central and southern parts of Iraq as well as a resurgence in Islamic State attacks across the country.