5 rockets hit Iraq base housing US troops near Baghdad
At least five Katyusha rockets landed on an Iraqi military base housing US troops near Iraqi capital Baghdad early Wednesday (Indian time). According to an official of the Interior Ministry, the attack was reported after two rockets landed on the al-Taji military base, around 20 km from Baghdad. Local media said US troops are stationed at the airbase. There were no immediate reports about casualties, the official added.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a few days after Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Iraqi Iran-backed Shiite militia Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, said the Iranian initial response to the killing of an Iranian military leader was done and it is time for Iraq to respond to the US airstrike.
Al-Khazali's threat came after Iran fired ballistic missiles on Wednesday on two military bases housing US troops in Iraq's western province of Anbar and near the city of Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
Iraqi military bases housing US personnel have reportedly faced multiple attacks over the past two months.
On January 3, a US drone attacked a convoy near Baghdad International Airport, killing Qasem 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 are deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battle against Islamic State militants.
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