A rocket landed late on January 9 near the Balad Air Base, which is hosting U.S. forces, in the northern Iraqi province of Salahuddin, according to Reuters.
Sources in the Iraqi Police told the news agency that the source of the rocket, which caused no casualties, is unknown.
Click to see full-size image. Via Google Earth.
The rocket attack came amid high tensions between Iraqi Shia factions and the U.S, which assassinated Iran’s Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Deputy-Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad earlier this month.
A day earlier, a similar rocket attack targeted the U.S. embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. No losses were reported as a result of the attack.
Qais Khazali, a leader of a large group in the PMU, denied responsibility for the attack on the embassy, stressing that diplomatic missions will not be targeted by PMU forces.
Nevertheless, Khazali vowed to respond to the assassination of Soleimani and al-Muhandis by targeting U.S. troops in Iraq.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded to the killing of Soleimani by launching more than a dozen ballistic missiles on U.S. bases in northern and western Iraq.
