Three rockets hit Balad airbase, no casualties: Security Media Cell

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Three rockets hit Balad airbase in Salahaddin province on Wednesday night, Iraqi's Security Media Cell has said, with no casualties reported.

No damage was caused by the attack, the cell said on Twitter.

The base hosts US contractors but no foreign troops. Last month, it was reported that a F-16 jet maintenance company was withdrawing from Balad due to frequent rocket attacks on the base.

The base has previously been subject to frequent rocket attacks. Four Katyusha rockets hit the base in May. Two members of the Iraqi security forces were injured in a separate rocket attack on the base in April.

Attacks on Iraqi bases, especially those hosting US troops and contractors, have increased since the US assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020, leading to a non-binding parliamentary resolution to expel all foreign troops from the country.

Soleimani's successor, Ismail Qaani, was reported to be in Baghdad on an unofficial visit on Wednesday, according to Telegram channels affiliated to Iran-backed factions of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi).

Updated at 10:32pm