Two American service members were among three who were reportedly killed when rockets struck a base near Baghdad housing U.S. forces.
Camp Taji, a base that houses U.S. troops, was targeted by about 18 Katyusha rockets on Wednesday. Three people were killed and 12 were injured in the attack.
According to a statement from U.S. Central Command, the attack is being investigated by Iraqi Security Forces and the U.S.-led coalition.
“Camp Taji is an Iraqi base that hosts Coalition personnel for training and advising missions,” the statement read. “The Iraqi Security Forces found a rocket-rigged truck, a few miles from Camp Taji.”
No organization has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the base has been targeted in the past by Iranian-backed militia groups, including Kata’ib Hezbollah, which was led by Abu Mahdi al Muhandis until the United States killed him in a January drone strike along with Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. The attack prompted Iran to fire more than a dozen missiles at two bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops.
If Iran-backed militia groups were behind the attack, it would signal a major escalation in the region, the largest since tensions between the U.S. and Iran earlier this year.
Kata’ib Hezbollah was behind a December rocket attack on a Kirkuk, Iraq, military base that killed a U.S. contractor. The death led to American strikes on the militia’s facilities, which in turn led to protesters, backed by Iran, storming the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on New Year’s Eve. President Trump then ordered the drone strike against Soleimani.
Following the Thursday incident at Camp Taji, there have been reports of attacks on facilities near the border of eastern Syria controlled by the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization to which Kata’ib Hezbollah and other Iraqi Shiite militias belong.
Wednesday’s rocket attack comes after two U.S. special operations troops were killed during a combat operation targeting the Islamic State group in northern Iraq. The deaths were the first since August of last year when Gunnery Sgt. Scott Koppenhafer was killed during combat operations.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command directed the Washington Examiner to a tweet showing a truck where the rockets were fired from.
The Coalition @CJTFOIR confirms more than 15 small rockets impacted Iraq’s Camp Taji base hosting Coalition troops, March 11 at 7:35 p.m. (Iraq Time). Assessment and investigation ongoing, follow @OIRSpox & @SecMedCell for updates. https://t.co/oNgNfCEYG7
— OIR Spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins III (@OIRSpox) March 11, 2020
