A barrage of rockets hit a military base housing US and other coalition troops north of Baghdad in a rare daytime attack, Iraqi and US security sources said on Saturday. The attack, at Camp Taji, was unusual because it occurred during the day. Previous assaults on military bases housing US troops typically occurred overnight. It came just days after a similar incident killed two American military personnel and a British soldier. Several rockets were fired at the Taji air base on Saturday, Iraqi and US military officials said. The base lies some 20 kilometers north of the capital. On Friday, the US retaliated to Wednesday's rocket attack with air strikes on arms depots it said were used by hardline members of Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned faction within the Hashed, believed to be responsible. However, Iraq's military said at least five members of Iraq's security forces and one civilian were killed, none of them members of the Hashed, according to Iraq's military. Iraq has long feared it would get caught in the spiraling tensions between Iran and the US, its two main allies. This week's attacks follow a rocket strike on another Iraqi base in December that killed a US contractor. In response, Washington launched air strikes targeting Kataib Hezbollah, which in turn led to protests at the US Embassy in Baghdad, demanding the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. A US drone strike in Baghdad then killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a top commander responsible for expeditionary operations across the Middle East. Iran struck back with a ballistic missile attack on US forces in Iraq. — Agencies
