BAGHDAD (AP) – At least ten rockets fell Wednesday on a base housing U.S. coalition troops and other troops from western Iraq, military officials said. It was not known if there were casualties, but the Iraqi army said there were no major casualties.
It was the first such attack since the United States attacked the targets of the Iran-aligned militia along the border with Iraq and Syria last week, killing one militiaman and provoking fears about a another cycle of attacks so it happened last year. These attacks culminated in the US drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassim Soleimani in Baghdad.
No one was blamed for Wednesday’s attack, which comes two days before Pope Francis visits the country amid concerns about the safety and pandemic of the coronavirus.. The long-awaited trip will include stops in Baghdad, southern Iraq and the northern city of Irbil.
The rockets attacked Ain al-Assad air base in Anbar province early in the morning, U.S. coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto said. In addition to the American troops, the Danes and the British are among those stationed at the base. It is the same base that Iran attacked with a rain of missiles in January last year in retaliation for the assassination of Soleimani. Dozens of members of the American service suffered concussions in this strike.
The Iraqi military issued a statement saying Wednesday’s attack caused no major casualties and that security forces had found the launch pad used for the rockets: a truck. The site video shows a truck on fire in a desert area.
The British ambassador to Iraq, Stephen Hickey, condemned the attack and said it undermined the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group. “Coalition forces are in Iraq to fight Daesh at the invitation of the Iraqi government,” he tweeted, using the Arabic acronym IS. “These terrorist attacks are undermining the fight against Daesh and destabilizing Iraq.”
Denmark said coalition forces at the base were helping to provide stability and security to the country.
“The despicable attacks on Ain al-Assad’s base in #Iraq are completely unacceptable,” tweeted Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod. The Danish armed forces said two Danes who were at the base at the time of the attack were unharmed.
Last week’s U.S. strike at the border responded to a series of rocket attacks that targeted the U.S. presence, including one that killed a Philippine coalition contractor outside the U.S. Irbil Airport.
After that attack, the Pentagon said the strike was a “proportional military response.”
Coalition spokesman Marotto said Iraqi security forces were conducting an investigation into the attack.
Frequent rocket attacks on the heavily fortified green area, home to the U.S. embassy, during Donald Trump’s presidency thwarted the administration, prompting threats to close the embassy and vague climbers. These attacks have increased again in recent weeks, since President Joe Biden took office, after a hiatus during the transition period.
U.S. troops in Iraq significantly reduced their presence in the country last year and withdrew from various Iraqi bases to consolidate mainly in Ain al-Assad, Baghdad and Irbil.
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Associated Press writer Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.