US servicemember hurt in Iraq attack

BAGHDAD — A civilian contractor was killed and a U.S. servicemember injured Monday night when coalition forces in Irbil were struck by “indirect fire,” U.S. officials said.

The rocket fire landed near a military base that hosts coalition forces in the capital of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region. Five civilian contractors were injured, coalition spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto tweeted.

A U.S. defense official said the attack appeared to involve 14 rockets that targeted a U.S. facility in the vicinity of the Irbil airport. One U.S. service member suffered a concussion. Four American contractors working with the coalition military operation and one nonAmerican contractor was injured. Another non-American contractor was killed.

Military officials did not have an immediate independent assessment of who launched the attack, the official said.

Iraqi President Barham Salih called it “a dangerous escalation and a criminal terrorist attack.”

At least three rockets struck near the compound that houses the base and the city’s airport, according to the Interior Ministry of the Kurdish Regional Government. One landed in a residential area near the Chinese consulate, officials said. Another landed in an animal market. Videos posted to social media appeared to show the base’s defense system responding to the missiles.

Such attacks increased last year, most of them targeting Iraq’s central government. U.S. and British soldiers have been killed, but most casualties have been members of the Iraqi security forces or civilians. Iraqi and Western officials have blamed Iran-backed militias.

“The targeting of Irbil, which inflicted casualties, represents a dangerous escalation and a criminal terrorist act targeting the national efforts to protect the security of the country and the safety of citizens,” Salih tweeted. “We have no choice but to firmly strengthen our efforts to root out the forces of terror and the attempts to plunge the country into chaos. It is a battle of state and sovereignty against terrorism and outlaws.”

Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani urged “all Kurdistanis” to remain calm. He said he had instructed security services to start “a full investigation,” and had spoken with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi “on ways to cooperate and identify the outlaws behind this terror attack.”