US ‘will not shy away from action’ after civilian dies in rocket attack

The US said it may consider a military response to Wednesday’s rocket attack on its troops in Iraq during which a US contractor died.

At least 10 rockets hit Al Asad air base in western Iraq, where US and coalition troops fighting ISIS are based.

“We are following that through right now,” President Joe Biden said. “Thank God, no one was killed by the rockets. But one individual, a contractor, died of a heart attack. We’re identifying who’s responsible and we’ll make judgments [about a response].”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that calculated US air strikes last week could be a model for a military response. Those strikes were in response to an attack on US forces in Iraq in February.

“If we assess further response is warranted, we will take action again in a manner and time of our choosing,” Ms Psaki said.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday that the US had shown it would not “shy away” from taking action.

“Let’s do this the right way. Let’s let our Iraqi partners investigate this, see what they learnt,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

“If a response is warranted, I think we have shown clearly that we won’t shy away from that. But we’re just not there yet,” Mr Kirby said.

While it is unclear who was behind the attack, Iraqi forces found the launch site several kilometres from the airbase, where there were a number of burning vehicles that were used in the attack.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack and the Pentagon said it was too soon to come to any conclusions on who was responsible.

But Mr Kirby said the attack was “similar to recent attacks by Shiite-backed militias”.

The base was targeted last year by a ballistic missile attack directly from Iran

“We cannot attribute responsibility at this time, and we do not have a complete picture of the extent of the damage,” Mr Kirby said.

Iraqi forces continue to investigate the attack and US forces are on standby to assist, he said.

Sky News Arabia reported that Iraqi soldiers were questioned after surveillance footage of a checkpoint showed vehicles that may have been carrying the rockets passing through without inspection.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi said that his administration had been negotiating with the US and allies on the future of foreign forces in Iraq and their numbers had been reduced.

But he said that attacks such as Wednesday’s were never justified and were detrimental to the process of talks.

Iran-backed militia groups have long demanded that US forces leave Iraq and their allies in parliament last year passed a bill ordering the withdrawal.

Last Thursday, US forces carried out air strikes against facilities at a border control point in Syria used by Iranian-backed militias, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid Al Shuhada.