Rocket attack targets US military base in Iraq

A military base in Baghdad, Iraq, hosting US forces was struck by a rocket attack on Monday evening.

At least two rockets were fired at the Victoria military base, which hosts American forces near Baghdad International Airport, according to two Iraqi military officials, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

It was reported that the base had activated its air defences, intercepting the rockets.

“All military personnel are accounted for and military forces were not targeted as had been reported,” a US defence official said.

Two security sources told the AFP news agency that the base was “targeted with three rockets”, including two that were “shot down by the base’s special defences”.

“The third fell near the headquarters of the Counter Terrorism Service Command,” one source said. A second source confirmed the report, the agency said, and noted that there were no casualties and that the rockets did not affect air traffic.

The Victoria military base is a compound at Baghdad International Airport, used as the headquarters of US forces in Iraq from 2003 until 2011, when it was handed over to the Iraqi government. It still hosts US forces, and has previously been a target of Islamist forces in Iraq.

News.Az