‘2 rockets hit military base near Baghdad’, says Iraqi army

Heavy smoke rises after a fire broke out at a cache of rockets and mortar rounds in al-Obeidi neighborhood, a stronghold of Shiite militant groups in eastern Baghdad, Iraq (File Photo: IANS)


Two Katyusha rockets on Saturday hit a military base, housing US forces, near the Iraqi capital Baghdad without casualties, according to the Iraqi military.

In a brief statement, Iraqi Joint Operations Command said that the attack took place in the evening when the two rockets fired from an area outside the government-owned industrial facility and landed on al-Taji Camp, some 20 km north of Baghdad.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far as the military bases housing US troops across Iraq and the US embassy have been frequently targeted by mortar and rocket attacks.No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far as the military bases housing US troops across Iraq and the US embassy have been frequently targeted by mortar and rocket attacks.

Last month, the Iraqi military had confirmed that two rockets hit a military base housing international coalition forces near Baghdad.

Earlier in May, an American soldier and a British soldier, as well as one US contractor, were killed after rockets hit an Iraqi military base north of Baghdad.

It was the deadliest attack on an installation hosting foreign troops in several years and comes after a spate of rocket attacks targeting US troops across Iraq as well as the US embassy in Baghdad.

In January, the attack at the Baghdad International Airport also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).

The Iranian attack came after a US drone attacked on January 3 a convoy at Baghdad International Airport that killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq’s paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

More than 5,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against Islamic State militants.