Deadly strike on Iraq base hosting US troops

BAGHDAD: At least 10 rockets slammed into a military base in western Iraq hosting US-led coalition troops, security sources said, leaving one civilian contractor dead.

The attack on the sprawling Ain al-Assad base in Iraq’s western desert comes after several weeks of escalating US-Iran tensions on Iraqi soil – and just two days before Pope Francis’ historic visit.

Ain al-Assad hosts both Iraqi forces and US-led coalition troops helping to fight the Islamic State group, as well as unmanned drones used to surveil extremist sleeper cells.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto confirmed that 10 rockets hit the base yesterday morning, while Iraqi security forces said they had found the platform from which 10 “Grad-type rockets” hit the Ain al-Assad base.

Western security sources said the rockets were Iranian-made Arash models, which are 122mm artillery rockets and heavier than those seen in similar attacks.

“One civilian contractor died of a heart attack during the attack,” a high-level security source said.

The death marks the third fatality in rocket attacks in recent weeks, after rockets targeting US-led troops in the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil left two people dead. — AFP