Two American and one British service members were killed, and more than 10 other military personnel or contractors were injured in a rocket attack on a military base in Iraq, U.S. officials have said.
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said Thursday that while they were still investigating the attack, the U.S. believed Iran-backed militia groups were most likely behind the assault on the base.
"The Iranian proxy group Kataeb Hezbollah is the only group known to have previously conducted an indirect fire attack of this scale against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq," said McKenzie, referring to a group that the U.S. blamed for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor in late December which set off a dangerous escalation between Iran and the United States earlier this year.
The U.K. ministry of defense confirmed in a statement overnight that a service member from the Royal Army Medical Corps had died in the assault on the base on Wednesday.
The Iraqi base, Camp Taji, which is just north of Baghdad, hosts personnel for training and advising missions from the U.S.-led coalition tasked with fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
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Coalition forces said in a statement on Thursday that about a dozen coalition personnel were injured when a barrage of 18 107mm Katyusha rockets hit the base. Iraqi security forces found a rocket-rigged truck a few miles from Camp Taji, the forces added.
Two U.S. officials, who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday, said the more than 10 injured military personnel or contractors were from three different nationalities and included Americans. It was not initially clear how many of those injured were members of the military.
A State Department spokesperson said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab Wednesday.
“We must find those responsible. I welcome the Iraqi President’s call for an immediate investigation to hold perpetrators to account — but we must see action," Raab said in a statement on Thursday.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and it remained unclear Thursday morning if the U.S. or its allies would respond to the assault.
The rocket attack in late December on a military base in Kirkuk that killed a U.S. contractor prompted American military strikes on weapon depots that Washington said were linked to the Iranian-backed militia group, Kataeb Hezbollah, whom it blamed for the initial rocket attack.
Those strikes in turn prompted protests at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and were later followed on Jan. 3 by a U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a leader of the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, of which Kataeb Hezbollah is a member.
Iran then retaliated on Jan. 8 by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi air bases housing U.S. forces.
Mosheh Gains, Courtney Kube and Abigail Williams reported from Washington, and Saphora Smith from London.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5iY25ld3MuY29tL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvMi1hbWVyaWNhbnMtMS1icml0aXNoLW5hdGlvbmFsLWtpbGxlZC1yb2NrZXQtYXR0YWNrLWlyYXFpLWJhc2UtbjExNTYzMTHSASxodHRwczovL3d3dy5uYmNuZXdzLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FtcC9uY25hMTE1NjMxMQ?oc=5
2020-03-12 15:27:58Z
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