Seven rockets fired at US base housing troops in Iraq just weeks after contractor was killed at airbase

AT least five missiles hit an Iraqi military base north of Baghdad currently housing US troops, it was reported tonight.

Security officials said two more rockets fell outside the perimeter of the remote Balad air base, reports Reuters.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and there were no reports of any injuries.

However, armed groups that some Iraqi officials say are backed by Iran have claimed similar incidents in the past.

Earlier this month, a rocket attack on an Iraqi airbase hosting US and coalition forces killed one civilian contractor and injured nine others.

A volley of approximately 14 rockets was fired at the base in the region’s main city of Erbil late on March 1, just days after President Biden ordered his first airstrike in Syria.

That attack on American forces in the country sparked fears of escalation in the first serious test of Joe Biden’s policy towards Iran.

The rockets were fired at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base that also hosts Iraqi troops, two security sources confirmed.

Three “107mm rockets” landed inside the base while others fell on residential areas nearby, killing one person identified by a US coalition spokesperson as a foreign national, but not a US citizen, and injuring one US service member.

At least five Iraqi civilians were also injured, with one in a critical condition.

The March 1 rocket attack came just days after the Biden administration's first airstrike on an Iran-backed Shia militia compound in neighbouring Syria.

The U.S. dropped seven 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions ( JDAMs) reportedly killing 22 at a crossing used by Iranian-backed militia groups to move weapons across the border.

The President said the airstrike he ordered was a warning to Iran to “be careful" and not support militia groups that threaten Americans.

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