Two rockets struck the ground just outside an Iraqi military air base hosting some U.S. contractors, causing no casualties or damages, an Iraqi official said Sunday.
Maj. Gen. Tahseen al-Khafaji told the Associated Press that the rockets landed outside Balad air base midday Sunday and hit the village of al-Bu Asi, which is located southeast of Baghdad.
Balad was also attacked on March 15, when at least five rockets struck the military base, reports Reuters.
While no group has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, Iran-backed forces previously took responsibility for similar strikes, Reuters noted.
Similarly, an area that houses U.S. contractors and other coalition troops in western Iraq was hit with at least 10 rockets. There were no casualties in that attack, however, a U.S. contractor suffered a heart attack, and later died, the Hill reported.
Following the attack, President Joe Biden told reporters the U.S. was identifying the responsible parties “and we’ll make judgments,” including a possible military response to the attack, stated the Hill.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said the U.S. wants to “make sure that again, we understand who’s responsible for this. The message to those who would carry out such an attack is: expect us to do what’s necessary to defend ourselves.”
He said the U.S. would answer with a “thoughtful” and “appropriate” response.
“We’re still developing the intelligence. We are encouraging the Iraqis to move as fast as they can to investigate the incident and they are doing that. But you can expect that we will always hold people accountable for their acts,” Austin said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Source: Newmax
