US forces injured in attack on base in Iraq: Official
US personnel suffered minor injuries and a member of Iraq’s security forces was wounded in an attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base on Saturday, a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The US military’s Central Command said in a statement that the base was hit by multiple ballistic missiles and rockets from inside Iraq. The statement did not confirm the extent of any US injuries but said personnel were being evaluated for traumatic brain injury, Reuters reported.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, in a statement published on its Telegram channel claimed responsibility for the attack on the Ain al-Asad air base, located about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, on Saturday evening.
It said the base was targeted by a large number of rockets and the projectiles “directly hit their targets.”
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, the US military has come under attack at least 58 times in Iraq and another 83 times in Syria by militias, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Daesh, which in 2014 seized large parts of both countries before being defeated.
A senior Iraqi commander has said the Baghdad government is determined to end the presence of foreign troops from the US-led military coalition purportedly formed to fight the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.
The spokesman for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command (JOC), Brigadier General Yahya Rasool underscored that with the presence of capable Iraqi forces, the US-led military coalition in Iraq is no longer needed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Thursday repeated his call for the US-led coalition to depart his country, stressing that Baghdad demands the immediate withdrawal of the forces due to their destabilizing activities.
“It is also a necessity for preserving constructive bilateral relations between Iraq and the coalition countries,” the Iraqi prime minister noted.