BAGHDAD, Dec 30 (NNN-NINA) – Four Katyusha rockets hit a base that houses U.S. troops, near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.
The incident took place in the evening, when the rockets struck al-Taji military base, some 30 km north of Baghdad, the official said.
The attack came a few hours after the U.S. forces attacked five bases of Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) in Iraq and Syria, in response to repeated attacks by KH against U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.
The U.S. forces targeted three KH bases in Iraq and two in Syria, the statement said, adding that, “these locations included weapon storage facilities and command and control locations that KH uses to plan and execute attacks on coalition forces.”
According to a statement by the media office affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC), three U.S. airstrikes targeted headquarters of Hashd Shaabi’s 45th Brigade near al-Qaim border town with Syria.
The airstrikes left four Hashd Shaabi members killed, including deputy commander of the 45th Brigade, and some 30 others wounded, the statement said.
The attack came two days after a rocket barrage hit K1 military camp, which houses U.S. troops, in Kirkuk province, leaving a U.S. contractor killed and wounding others.
Military bases housing U.S. troops across Iraq and the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad have been frequently targeted by insurgents’ mortar and rocket attacks.– NNN-NINA