Pentagon: US contractor dies in rocket attack at Iraq base

Aerial file photo taken from a helicopter shows Ain al-Asad air base in the western Anbar desert, Iraq. Photo / AP

A US contractor died Wednesday (US time) when at least 10 rockets slammed into an air base housing US and other coalition troops in western Iraq, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the contractor "suffered a cardiac episode while sheltering" and died shortly afterward. He said no service members were injured and all are accounted for.

The rocket attack was the first since the US struck Iran-aligned militia targets along the Iraq-Syria border last week, killing one militiaman and stoking fears of another cycle of tit-for-tat attacks as happened last year. Those attacks culminated in the US drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassim Soleimani in Baghdad.

No one claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack, which happened two days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the country amid concerns about security and the coronavirus pandemic. The much-anticipated trip will include stops in Baghdad, southern Iraq and the northern city of Irbil.

The rockets struck Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province early in the morning, US-led coalition spokesperson Colonel Wayne Marotto said. Kirby said the rockets were fired from east of the base.

Danish and British troops are also stationed at the base, which Iran struck with a barrage of missiles in January last year in retaliation for the killing of Soleimani. Dozens of US service members suffered concussions in that strike.

The Iraqi military said Wednesday's attack did not cause significant losses and that security forces had found the launch pad used for the rockets — a truck. Video of the site shows a burning truck in a desert area.

British Ambassador to Iraq Stephen Hickey condemned the attack, saying it undermined the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group. "Coalition forces are in Iraq to fight Daesh at the invitation of the Iraqi government," he tweeted, using the Arabic acronym for Isis. "These terrorist attacks undermine the fight against Daesh and destabilise Iraq."

Denmark said coalition forces at the base were helping to bring stability and security to the country.

"Despicable attacks against Ain al-Asad base in #Iraq are completely unacceptable," Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod tweeted. The Danish armed forces said two Danes who were at the base at the time of the attack are unharmed.

Last week's US strike along the border was in response to a spate of rocket attacks that targeted the American presence, including one that killed a coalition contractor from the Philippines outside the Irbil airport.

After that attack, the Pentagon said the strike was a "proportionate military response".

Marotto, the coalition spokesman, said the Iraqi security forces were leading an investigation into the attack.

Frequent rocket attacks targeting the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the US Embassy, during Donald Trump's presidency frustrated the administration, leading to threats of embassy closure and escalatory strikes. Those attacks have increased again in recent weeks, since President Joe Biden took office, after a lull during the transition period.

US troops in Iraq significantly decreased their presence in the country last year and withdrew from several Iraqi bases to consolidate chiefly in Ain al-Asad, Baghdad and Irbil.

- AP