An American soldier, a British soldier and one US contractorwere killed Wednesday, a US official said, in the deadliest rocket attack inyears on an Iraqi military base hosting foreign troops.
The attack threatens a dangerous escalation, with suspectedUS-led coalition air strikes promptly targeting Iran-aligned Iraqi fighters inneighbouring Syria, a war monitor said.
On Wednesday evening, a volley of rockets hit the Taji airbase north of Baghdad, which hosts troops from the US-led coalition helping localforces battle jihadists.
A coalition official first told AFP the force had sustained”several” injuries on Wednesday ranging from “light tocritical,” but a US military official later confirmed three deaths.
The Iraqi military said the rockets were fired from the backof a truck, but it did not comment on any casualties.
There was no initial comment from Washington or London onthose killed, nor was there an immediate claim of responsibility.
Washington has blamed Iran-backed factions from Iraq’s Hashedal-Shaabi military network, which is incorporated into the Iraqi state, forsimilar violence in the recent past.
Within hours of Wednesday’s attack, three warplanes likelybelonging to the US-led coalition bombed Hashed factions stationed on the Syrianside of the border with Iraq, according to the Syrian Observatory for HumanRights war monitor.
“Ten explosions shook the area near Albukamal,”said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman, citing a Syrian border town with aheavy Hashed presence.
Hardline Hashed factions have fought alongside Syriangovernment forces for several years and have been targeted by both coalitionand Israeli air strikes in Syria.
Wednesday’s attack on the Taji air base was the 22nd on USinstallations in Iraq, including the American embassy, since late October.
One of the earlier attacks killed an Iraqi soldier and inlate December, a spree of rockets killed a US contractor working at a base innorthern Iraq.
That killing sent tensions spiralling.
Two days later, the US responded by bombing KataebHezbollah, a faction within the Hashed that is heavily backed by Iran and whichWashington has blamed for several rocket attacks.
At least 25 Kataeb Hezbollah fighters were killed and theirsupporters on 31 December besieged the US embassy in Baghdad.
A US drone strike outside the Baghdad airport on January 3killed powerful Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and the Hashed’sdeputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Iran then retaliated by launching a volley of missiles atthe western Iraqi base of Ain Al-Asad. While no personnel were killed in thatattack, dozens of US soldiers suffered from brain trauma.
The tit-for-tat attacks on Iraqi soil left Baghdad furious,and in January its parliament voted to expel all foreign soldiers from Iraq inreaction to the killing of Soleimani.
Among them are some 5,200 US forces stationed across Iraq aspart of the international coalition — comprised of dozens of countries — formedin 2014 to confront the Islamic State jihadist group, which took swathes ofterritory that year.
While IS has lost its territory, sleeper cells remaincapable of carrying out attacks.
On Sunday, two US soldiers were killed while helping Iraqiforces battle IS remnants north of Baghdad.
Parliament’s vote on the ouster must be implemented by thegovernment, but the current caretaker cabinet has yet to make progress on thedecision.
US officials previously told AFP they considered the Hashedas a bigger threat to them than IS, given the frequency and accuracy of rocketattacks on American troops that could be traced back to the Shiite-majoritynetwork.