Rockets hit US troops, Iraqi contractors | Military News
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No victims or perpetrators of the attacks were claimed near Baghdad airport and the Ballad air base.
Multiple rockets have targeted two Iraqi military bases taking in U.S. coalition troops and foreign contractors, but no one has been injured in the attacks.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement on Thursday that an attack near a military base near Baghdad airport was carried out by three drone warheads filled with explosives and detonated and destroyed one of the UAVs.
Three rockets were also fired Wednesday at Balad air base north of the capital, with no casualties or injuries, according to military documents. At the base are foreign military contractors.
Attacks on Iraqi bases, especially those targeting U.S. troops and contractors, have intensified from the U.S. Assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani Baghdad, January 2020. The Americans usually accuse Iran-backed armed groups of directing U.S. forces and interests in Iraq.
More than a dozen rocket strikes have led to the bases and the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad since U.S. President Joe Biden took office this year. At least 10 people have been killed, including two foreign contractors.
The ballad air base is used by the U.S. company Sallyport to serve F-16 fighter jets driven by the Iraqi air force and has repeatedly fired rockets.
Another U.S. company, Lockheed Martin, fired workers from the base last month amid concerns about the safety of local workers.
At least three foreign subcontractors and one Iraqi subcontractor have been injured in attacks on Ballads.
US forces work in Iraq since 2003 over US-led invasion of dictator Saddam Hussein. U.S. troops remained there as part of a military coalition formed to fight the ISIL (ISIS) armed group – the campaign claimed by the Iraqi government in late 2017.
Rocket attacks are seen as a means of pressuring Washington to remove all remaining workers, as factions aligned with Iran see it as an occupying force.
In mid-April, pro-Iran fighters were sent full of explosives a drone crashed at Erbil airport The use of this first weapon was reported by U.S. soldiers against a base in Iraq.
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