Rocket hits military compound housing US troops in northern Iraq: one dead, at least eight injured

At least three rockets were fired at Erbil airport in northern Iraq on Monday and one of them hit a military compound where soldiers from the US-led coalition are located, reported this Monday to the agency AFP two sources of security.

The incident killed a foreign civilian contractor and injured five others as well as a US soldier., as reported by coalition spokesperson Colonel Wayne Marotto.

The other two rockets fell in residential areas near the airport, one of the sources said, without being able to immediately indicate whether there were any casualties. Yes, two civilian casualties have been confirmed and local authorities have also confirmed property damage. This is the first time in nearly two months that an attack has taken place against military or diplomatic installations in Iraq.

At around 6.30 p.m. GMT, a journalist from AFP heard several loud explosions in the northwestern suburbs of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iraqi sources told the AFP What at least three rockets were fired towards the airport.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry of the Kurdistan region confirmed that “several rockets” hit the city and said that the security agencies had launched a “detailed investigation”, urging civilians to stay at home until further notice.

Following the attack, security forces were deployed around the airport and helicopters were heard near the town.

There was no immediate claim of paternity, although some pro-Iranian propaganda channels were the first to report on the attack.

Western military and diplomatic sites have been hit by dozens of rockets and bomb attacks since fall 2019. The vast majority hit Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, although Iranian forces fired missiles at Erbil airport in January 2020, days after the US drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

Since then, rocket salutes have regularly struck the US embassy in Baghdad, with US and Iraqi officials blaming hardline pro-Iran factions such as Kataeb Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq.

These groups oppose the US-led coalition, which has been based in Iraq since 2014 to help local forces fight the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

With ISIS largely defeated, the coalition was reduced to less than 3,500 men in totalIncluding 2,500 American soldiers. Most are concentrated in the military complex of Erbil airport.

But even as the coalition withdrew more forces, rocket attacks continued, much to Washington’s growing frustration. In October, The United States has threatened to close its embassy in Baghdad if the attacks do not stop.

The Iraqi government facilitated an indefinite truce with the most extremist groups and the rocket attacks have all but ceased. However, there were rapes, the most recent of which was a rain of rockets targeting the U.S. Embassy on December 20.

With information from AFP

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