3 Americans injured in rocket attack
BAGHDAD – A barrage of rockets hit a base housing U.S. and other coalition troops north of Baghdad on Saturday, Iraqi security officials said, just days after a similar attack killed three servicemen, including two Americans.
The U.S.-led coalition said at least 25 107mm rockets struck Camp Taji just before 11 a.m. Some struck the area where coalition forces are based and others fell on air defense units, the Iraqi military statement said.
Five people were wounded in the attack including three coalition members and two Iraqi soldiers, according to Myles Caggins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition.
Jonathan Hoffman, chief Pentagon spokesman, said three U.S. service members were wounded. Two were seriously wounded and are hospitalized. He said Iraqi security forces have made an initial arrest.
Hoffman also repeated Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s comments from last week, saying, “You cannot attack and wound American service members and get away with it. We will hold them accountable.”
A statement from Iraq’s military said the “brutal aggression” wounded a number of air defense personnel who remain in critical condition, but did not provide a number.
Iraqi forces later discovered seven platforms from which the rockets were in the Abu Azam area, north of Baghdad. Another 24 missiles were discovered in place and ready to launch.
The attack was unusual because it occurred during the day. Previous assaults on military bases housing U.S. troops typically occurred at night.
The earlier rocket attack against Camp Taji on Wednesday also killed a British serviceman. It prompted American airstrikes Friday against what U.S. officials said were mainly weapons facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group believed to be responsible.
However, Iraq’s military said those airstrikes killed five security force members and a civilian, wounding five fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization including an array of militias, including some Iran-backed groups.
Iran-backed Shiite militia groups vowed to exact revenge for Friday’s U.S. strikes, signaling another cycle of titfor-tat violence between Washington and Tehran that could play out inside Iraq.
Iraq’s military also cautioned the U.S. from retaliating as it did on Friday without approval from the government.
Taking unilateral action would “not limit these actions, but rather nurtures them, weakens the ability of the Iraqi state,” the statement said.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said Friday that counterstrikes on PMF bases were intended to send a message to Kataib Hezbollah and Iran that further assaults on coalition forces would not be tolerated.
If that message is ignored, the U.S. could respond with additional strikes, he told reporters.
“If it doesn’t work, we got plenty more places we can go and go to work, and I’m confident we’ll do that,” he said.