<\/p>\r\n\r\n
At least five rockets have targeted an Iraqi air base hosting the occupying US soldiers and warplanes following a string of similar attacks on the base during past months.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
According to the latest reports, during the Sunday attack, at least two projectiles hit the facilities of an American firm inside al-Balad air base, which provides maintenance to planes, a security source was quoted by AFP as saying.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Three more rockets fell outside the premises of the base.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Two foreign contractors and three Iraqi soldiers were wounded, an unnamed source told AFP.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Another report by Reuters quoted officials as saying that Katyusha rockets were used in the attack.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack on the base, which is located 85 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad, and houses, among other things, F-16 fighter jets in addition to several maintenance companies employing Iraqi and foreign staff.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Sunday's assault was the latest in a string of attacks against US positions that were carried out after US President Joe Biden, in February, ordered airstrikes on positions of anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) along the Iraqi-Syrian border, where they were fighting remnants of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Iraqi counter-terrorism forces pledged retaliation, prompting the US military forces to go on high alert and adopt maximum security measures in anticipation of a response.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The last attack on Balad air base was on April 4 when at least two rockets hit the site.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Anti-US sentiment has been running high in Iraq following last year's US assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and senior PMU commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in addition to several other comrades, outside the Baghdad airport.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Iraqi resistance groups have vowed to avenge the assassinations, but denied any role in such rocket attacks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Two days after the assassinations, the Iraqi parliament voted for a resolution that called for expulsion of all foreign forces, including the Americans.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Iraqi parliament’s resolution concerning withdrawal of US troops from the entire Iraqi territory, including the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, is unambiguous and irreversible.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Washington, however, has threatened sanctions should US troops be expelled from Iraq instead of ending the occupation of the Arab country.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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