Rocket hits Iraq base hosting US troops

First attack on base since December 27 when rocket strikes killed a US contractor

Arocket slammed into an Iraqi base where American troops are stationed in the remote province of Kirkuk, Iraqi and US security sources said last night.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. According to three separate Iraqi security sources, the Katyusha rocket hit the K1 base at around 1745 GMT and US military aircraft immediately began flying low over the area.

It was the first attack on the base since December 27, when a volley of around 30 rockets killed a US contractor there and unleashed a dramatic escalation.

Washington blamed the rockets on Kataeb Hezbollah, a hardline Iraqi military faction close to Iran, and conducted retaliatory strikes that killed 25 of the group’s fighters.

Supporters of the group then surrounded the US embassy in Baghdad, breaking through its outer perimeter. Days later, a US drone strike at Baghdad airport killed Iran’s pointman on Iraqi affairs Qasem Soleimani and Kataeb Hezbollah co-founder Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis.