A civilian contractor has been killed and five others including a US service member were injured Sunday night in a rocket attack at a US-led military base in Kurdish northern Iraq.
There are approximately 2,500 US troops currently in Iraq to mentor and train Iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga forces. The attack stuck coalition forces in the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil at approximately 9:30 PM local time.
A US defense official said that the contractor who was killed was not a US citizen, but four of the five contractors who were injured were Americans and that the injured US service member suffered a concussion. The official identified 14 points of impact based on preliminary reports.
Initial reports that Indirect Fire landed on Coalition Forces in Erbil tonight. There was 1 civilian contractor killed, 5 civilian contractors injured and 1 US service member injured. More information to follow.
— OIR Spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto (@OIRSpox) February 15, 2021
In 2019 and 2020, in response to similar attacks, then-President Trump ordered retaliatory strikes against the Iranian-backed militia groups the US claimed were responsible on of which killed Maj. General Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, "We are outraged by today’s rocket attack in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. We express our condolences to the loved ones of the civilian contractor killed in this attack, and to the innocent Iraqi people and their families who are suffering these ruthless acts of violence. I have reached out to Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani to discuss the incident and to pledge our support for all efforts to investigate and hold accountable those responsible.”
Kurdish security sources said three rockets landed near Erbil International Airport. Reuters reporters claim to have heard several explosions and saw a fire near the airport. US troops occupy a military base next to the airport. A group named Awliya Al Dam, in a website belonging to Shiite militias claimed responsibility for the attack according to The Wall Street Journal.
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