Baghdad:
A drone packed with explosives hit an Iraqi base housing US troops early Saturday causing harm but no casualties, the Iraqi military and the US-led coalition mentioned.
The attack on the Ain Al-Asad air base was the fourth targeting US troops in Iraq in significantly less than a week, as an armed campaign blamed on pro-Iranian groups intensifies.
“Each attack… undermines the authority of Iraqi institutions, the rule of law and Iraqi national sovereignty,” mentioned coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto.
“No injuries reported. A hangar was damaged,” he mentioned in a tweet.
It was only the second time authorities publicly confirmed a drone had been utilised in an attack on a target inside Iraq.
In April, a drone packed with explosives hit the coalition’s Iraq headquarters in the military component of the airport in the Kurdish regional capital Arbil.
The attack sent shock waves about Iraq — the tactic poses a headache for the coalition, as drones can evade the C-RAM air defences it has installed to defend its bases.
But an Iraqi government official told AFP that the Arbil strike was not the 1st use of a drone against a target inside Iraq.
“Drones were used by pro-Iran groups more than once before the attack in Arbil,” the official mentioned, speaking on situation of anonymity.
In the meantime, there has been no let-up in rocket and other attacks carried out by the coalition’s foes more than the previous 18 months.
Since last Sunday, they have fired two rockets at Ain al-Assad, six at the Balad air base and two at Baghdad airport, all of which host coalition troops.
The US embassy in Baghdad and coalition provide convoys have also come beneath repeated attack.
Many of the attacks have been carried out in the name of shadowy groups regarded as tiny more than cover names for the major pro-Iran factions. Others have gone unclaimed.
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