Coalition confirms 3 dead, 12 wounded in rocket strike on Camp Taji in Iraq

11 Mar, 2020 22:47 / Updated 16 seconds ago

Get short URL

FILE PHOTO : Camp Taji © Global Look Press /US Army 

Three coalition service members have been killed and another 12 wounded in a rocket attack on Camp Taji, the Iraqi base outside Baghdad that hosts US troops, Operation Inherent Resolve has confirmed.

A total of 18 rockets struck the base on Wednesday, the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) said in a statement. The dead and wounded have not been officially identified, pending the notification of their next of kin.

Aurora Intel@AuroraIntel

Replying to @AuroraIntel

Full statement issued by Coalition in #Iraq. #US #UK

77

4:05 AM - Mar 12, 2020

Twitter Ads info and privacy

72 people are talking about this

In a statement early on Thursday, the Iraqi president’s office condemned the “terrorist attack” that left both trainers and advisers killed and wounded.

This attack is targeting Iraq and its security, and we stress the need to conduct full investigations to determine its background and track the elements responsible for it.

Earlier reports spoke of 10-15 rockets fired on Taji, with unnamed US officials stating that two American and one British service member were among the killed. Preliminary information from the Iraqi government did not identify any casualties.

Camp Taji is a major military base about 27 km north of Baghdad, used by the coalition to train Iraqi security forces. This is the second time it has come under rocket fire since January, when an Iraqi soldier was injured. No group claimed responsibility for these attacks.

Local media have already reported US jets launching reprisal air strikes against a number of Iraqi Shia militias in the Anbar province neighboring Syria, as well as inside Syria.

ALSO ON RT.COMWarplanes target area near Syrian town of Al-Bukamal & Iraq’s Anbar province after rocket attack on Iraq base – reports

These militias were also blamed for the December 2019 rocket attack that killed one American at the K-1 air base outside Kirkuk. US reprisal strikes kicked off a cycle of escalation that involved an attempted storming of the US embassy in Baghdad, a US drone strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps General Qassem Soleimani in January, and Iranian reprisal involving the targeting of two Iraqi bases that hosted US troops with ballistic missiles.

The Taji incident comes as the Pentagon and Baghdad are locked in a dispute over bringing additional US missile defense systems into Iraq. The US is insisting on doing so, citing an increased threat from Iran, while the Iraqi government continues to insist that all foreign forces should leave the country, as it said in the aftermath of the Soleimani assassination.