Barrage of Rockets Target Iraqi Base, Killing 2 Americans, 1 Brit

VOA – Two Americans and a British servicemember are dead, with a dozen more wounded, after a barrage of rockets slammed into Camp Taji, a military base north of Baghdad that hosts coalition troops.

According to U.S. and Iraqi officials, the attack was carried out late Wednesday by militants using a modified truck to fire 30 Katyusha rockets, 18 of which hit the base.

The U.S. Central Command spokesman, Capt. Bill Urban, confirmed the deaths of the two U.S. servicemembers. A military official said the third fatality was from Britain.

Among the 12 wounded were U.S. and coalition troops, and a contractor.

Iraqi military officials, who were the first to share word of Wednesday’s rocket attack, tweeted photos of the abandoned truck, which they said was found nearby.

خلية الإعلام الأمني@SecMedCell

سقوط عشرة صواريخ كاتيوشا داخل معسكر التاجي بدون خسائر , تم العثور على عجلة نوع كيا بنكو تحمل منصة صواريخ فيها ثلاث صواريخ متبقية جنوب منطقة الراشدية.

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Iraq’s presidency condemned the “terrorist attack” in a Thursday statement and stressed the need to find those responsible.

U.S. officials have so far declined to publicly assign blame for the attacks, saying the investigation is ongoing.  However, a military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told VOA the U.S. believes Iranian-backed militias, known as popular mobilization units, are responsible.

It would not be the first time Iranian-backed militias in Iraq targeted U.S. and coalition forces, and Wednesday’s attack could signal the start of renewed hostilities.

In December, a similar attack by the Kataib Hezbollah militia killed a U.S. contractor at a base near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

The U.S. responded with a series of retaliatory strikes, culminating this past January with the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the Iran Quds Force commander who oversaw the militias, in a strike in Iraq.