Two rockets hit air base housing US experts in Iraq, says military

Baghdad, May 1 (IANS): Two Katyusha rockets hit an air base housing the US military experts and agencies in Iraq’s western province of Anbar on Saturday, the Iraqi military said.

The two rockets landed in the evening in the Ayn al-Asad AirBase near the town of al-Baghdadi, some 190 km northwest of the capital Baghdad, causing no casualties, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the statement released by media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command.

The rocket attack came, although Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had confirmed on December 29, 2021 the end of the combat mission of the US-led coalition forces in the country.

Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a colonel from Anbar Operations Command, told Xinhua that the Iraqi forces found two rocket launchers several km from the air base and the incident is under investigation.

Also on Saturday, an Iraqi soldier was killed and another injured in a roadside bomb explosion near their vehicle on the highway near Trebil Border Crossing with Jordan, al-Dulaimi said.

In the eastern province of Diyala, six mortar rounds hit a village at 8 p.m. local time, wounding a woman and causing damage to several houses and civilian cars, according to a statement from Diyala Operations Command.

Over the past few months, Iraqi security forces have carried out deadly attacks against the extremist militants to crack down on their intensified activities.

The security situation in Iraq has improved after Iraqi forces defeated the Islamic State (IS) militant group in 2017. However, IS remnants have since melted into urban centers, deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.