Rockets hit Iraq training base

Coalition has a presence at site; third such attack in a week

BAGHDAD — Two rockets struck a training base south of Baghdad where U.s.-led coalition troops and NATO trainers are present, Iraq’s military said Tuesday, the third such attack in the span of a week.

The rockets hit the Basmaya base near the Iraqi capital on Monday evening, the army statement said. The projectiles landed in an area that includes agricultural land and a factory, according to the statement.

A Spanish contingent of the coalition and NATO trainers are present at the Basmaya site. There was no confirmation of the attack from the coalition, and no militant group claimed responsibility.

On March 11, a barrage of over two dozen rockets struck Camp

Taji, north of Baghdad, killing three coalition servicemen, including two Americans. A British serviceman was also killed.

That was followed by another attack, on Saturday at the same site, which wounded five soldiers: three coalition members and two Iraqi soldiers.

The first attack 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 for the attack.

But Iraq’s military said the airstrikes killed five security force members and a civilian, while wounding five fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization including several militias, including some Iran-backed groups.

Iran-backed Shiite militia groups vowed to exact revenge.