Rockets strike base housing US soldiers

Source: News Corp Australia Network:

January 7, 2020 at 18:54

Multiple rockets have reportedly struck an Iraqi base hosting American soldiers, as tensions between Iran and the US continue to grow.

Multiple rockets have reportedly struck an Iraqi base hosting American soldiers.

At least four rockets hit the Taji base north of Baghdad, The Jerusalem Post reported. Sirens were soon heard after at the US consulate in Erbil in the Iraqi-Kurdistan region.

Camp Taji has been in US hands since the early days of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

It comes two days after rockets were fired near the US Embassy in Baghdad in the wake of the assassination of Iran’s Major General Qasem Soleimani.

Two rockets hit near the US embassy in Baghdad on Sunday, marking the second night in a row that the Green Zone was hit and the 14th time over the past two months that US installations have been targeted.

A third rocket simultaneously hit a family home outside the Green Zone, wounding four.

Ties between Iraq and the US have deteriorated following Soleimani’s death.

Some 5,200 US soldiers are stationed across Iraqi bases to support local troops preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State jihadist group.

They are deployed as part of the broader international coalition, invited by the Iraqi government in 2014 to help fight IS.

— with AFP