US-led coalition confirms 2 attacks near bases hosting its forces in Iraq

"The military Coalition confirms two attacks near Iraqi bases that host coalition forces. At 7:46 p.m. (Baghdad Time) [04:46 GMT] the International Zone took indirect fire that landed outside of Coalition facilities and potentially harmed Iraqi civilians. At 7:50 p.m. rockets landed in the vicinity of Balad Air Base. No Coalition troops were harmed on Jan. 4. Iraqi Security Forces are currently investigating the incidents," the coalition said in a statement.

"The Iraqi Security Media Cell has confirmed that reports of attacks at the Ninewah Operation Center in Mosul are false," the statement added.

In the same statement, Col. Myles B. Caggins III, the coalition military spokesman, said that US military bases in Iraq had faced 13 attacks during the past two months.

The attacks that happened in November and December left Iraqi and coalition service members killed and injured, the spokesman noted.

The recent escalation in the area follows the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, by a US airstrike in Baghdad on Friday.

In December, the United States accused the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group of launching an attack on a US military base near the city of Kirkuk, which killed a US contractor.

In retaliation, the US launched a strike against Kataib Hezbollah's forces, killing dozens of its members, which, in turn, triggered Shiite protesters' attempts to storm the US embassy in Baghdad.

The United States believes that Soleimani was behind the siege of the embassy.