Iraq
Three rockets hit military base housing US forces near Iraq's capital
Baghdad/Xinhua: At least three Katyusha rockets hit a military base housing U.S. forces near Iraq's capital Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
The attack took place on Monday evening when the three rockets landed on al-Taji Camp, some 20 km north of Baghdad, with the casualties unclear yet, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi security forces launched a search in the surrounding area for the attackers, the source said.
Al-Taji Camp is a huge military base containing an air base where some U.S. troops are stationed.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, but the Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops across Iraq and the U.S. embassy in the Green Zone have been frequently targeted by mortar and rocket attacks.
The Iraqi-U.S. relations have witnessed a tension since Jan. 3 when a U.S. drone struck a convoy at Baghdad airport, which killed Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.
The U.S. airstrike prompted the Iraqi parliament on Jan. 5 to pass a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in the country.
More than 5,000 U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the Islamic State militants, mainly for training and advisory purposes.
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