Rockets target Iraqi airbase after clashes with IS

TARMIYAH, Iraq: Four rockets hit the Al-Balad airbase north of the Iraqi capital on Saturday, the military said, as security sources told AFP a local contractor for a US company managing Iraq’s F16s was wounded.

The attack came hours after Iraqi security forces raided an Islamic State hideout in the plains of Tarmiyah, with clashes leaving five jihadists and two pro-government fighters dead, according to the Iraqi military.

F-16s at the Al-Balad airbase were backing the ongoing Tarmiyah operation against IS sleeper cells at the time of the rocket attack, two security sources told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility and it was not clear whether the rocket attack was linked to the anti-IS operations. Al-Balad is around 60 kilometres north of Tarmiyah.

A local army source told AFP that Katyusha-style rockets were fired at Al-Balad.

One of the rockets hit a part of the base hosting employees of Sallyport, the US contractor charged with maintaining the F-16 aircraft purchased from the US in recent years, the security sources said.

“An Iraqi contractor sustained moderate injuries,” one of the sources said.

Another rocket hit a runway, without disrupting the take-off and landing of aircraft, while a third hit nearby woodlands, the source said.

Iraqi army units at Al-Balad responded to the rockets by firing artillery at a position 12km east of the airbase where they believed the attack originated, the source added. It is rare for Iraqi security forces to respond so quickly to such an incident.

Dozens of rocket attacks and roadside bombs targeted Western military and diplomatic installations last year.

US and Iraqi officials have blamed the attacks on armed factions with close ties to Iran – not IS.