ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Five people have been arrested for suspected involvement in a rocket attack earlier this week on Ain al-Asad airbase that injured several American personnel, Iraq’s security forces announced on Thursday.
The five unnamed people were arrested for their involvement in the “illegal” attack on Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province on Monday, the Security Media Cell said in a statement.
Pentagon officials have anonymously told media outlets that the attack led to the injury of five United States personnel and two contractors.
The arrests were made based on evidence found by an investigative committee set up on orders from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
An advisor to Falih Fayadh, Iraq's national security adviser and head of the Hashd al-Shaabi Commission, told Rudaw earlier on Thursday that a Hashd commander and three other members of the force were detained by Iraqi intelligence in Anbar on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the attack.
“They are being held and investigated, but there is no evidence that proves their involvement in the attack. We are waiting for the results of the investigation,” said Sheikh Awad Jukhefi.
The Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), is a collection of armed groups nominally under the control of the Iraqi government, though many have close ties with Iran.
A previously-unknown group, calling itself the “Revolutionaries,” claimed responsibility for the Ain al-Asad attack via Telegram. The group claims to be affiliated to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a shadowy network of Iraqi militia groups allegedly backed by Iran that has attacked US forces on bases in Iraq and Syria dozens of times since October.
The strike on Monday was the third in the last three weeks on the Iraqi airbase. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq did not claim responsibility.
Tensions have been high between Washington and Baghdad since the start of the latest chapter in the Israel-Palestine conflict in October. Pro-Iran Iraqi militias have conducted more than 165 attacks on US troops based in Iraq and Syria in condemnation of the American government’s support for Israel.
“Several U.S. service members were wounded yesterday in a rocket attack on Al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a press conference in Annapolis on Tuesday. “So make no mistake: The United States will not tolerate attacks on our personnel in the region.”
US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a briefing on Wednesday that Baghdad had arrested a number of suspects in relation to the Monday attack, calling it an “appropriate thing for them to do.”
The US has retaliated for previous attacks on its forces, carrying out deadly airstrikes on PMF targets, to the ire of the Iraqi government.
