Rockets launched from Iraq town toward US base in Syria, Iraqi security sources say
At least five rockets were launched from Iraq’s town of Zummar towards a US military base in north-eastern Syria on Sunday, two Iraqi security sources told Reuters.
The attack against US forces is the first since early February, when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against US troops.
It comes one day after Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, returned from a visit to the United States and met with Joe Biden at the White House.
Two security sources and a senior army officer said a rocket launcher fixed on the back of a small truck had been parked in Zummar, a town on the border with Syria.
The military official said the truck caught fire with an explosion from unfired rockets at the same time as warplanes were in the sky.
“We can’t confirm that the truck was bombed by US warplanes unless we investigate it,” said a military official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the incident.
Iraqi security forces were deployed in the area and launched a hunt for the perpetrators who fled the area using another vehicle, said a security official who is based Zummar.
An army officer said the truck had been seized for further investigation and initial investigation showed that it was destroyed by an air strike.
“We are communicating with the coalition forces in Iraq to share information on this attack,” the officer added.
The attacks came one day after a huge blast at a military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of an Iraqi security force that includes Iran-backed groups. The force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.