Iraq rocket attack: One Brit and two Americans killed, officials say
Iraq rocket attack: One Brit and two Americans killed, officials say
2020-03-12 00:00:00 - From: Iraq News
One British and two American citizens are thought to have been killed in a rocket attack at a military base housing international forces in Iraq.
More than 10 people were also wounded in the attack, US officials have told the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies.
Army Col. Myles Caggins, a US military spokesman in Iraq, said more than 15 "small rockets" hit Camp Taji base, which hosts troops from the anti-Isis coalition, but did not comment on casualties.
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Officials did not say which group they believe launched the rocket attack, but Kataib Hezbollah or another Iranian-backed Shia militia group is the likely culprit.
left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. ?width=1000&height=614&fit=bounds&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=70&crop=16:9,offset-y0.5" on="tap:gallery-lightbox-7687186" role="photo" tabindex="0" layout="fill" alt="" srcset=" ?width=1000&height=614&fit=bounds&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=70&crop=16:9,offset-y0.5 1000w, ?width=700&height=430&fit=bounds&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=70&crop=16:9,offset-y0.5 700w, ?width=400&height=245&fit=bounds&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=70&crop=16:9,offset-y0.5 400w" i-amphtml-layout="fill"/> 1/35 This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January
AP
2/35 The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January
Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters
3/35 Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces
Reuters
4/35 A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump
AP
5/35 Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America
EPA
6/35 Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader"
AFP via Getty
7/35 A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January
AP
8/35 Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran
EPA
9/35 Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa
AFP via Getty
10/35 A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq
EPA
11/35 A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman
KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty
12/35 Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran
EPA
13/35 Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan
EPA
14/35 Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon
AP
15/35 People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran
AP
16/35 Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib
AFP via Getty
17/35 A demonstration in Tehran
AFP via Getty
18/35 An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran
EPA
19/35 Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf
AFP via Getty
20/35 Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan
EPA
21/35 Protesters demonstrate in Tehran
AP
22/35 Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan
EPA
23/35 Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London
PA
24/35 Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran
AP
25/35 A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing
AFP via Getty
26/35 Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran
AFP via Getty
27/35 Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest
AP
28/35 Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers
Reuters
29/35 A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan
EPA
30/35 Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran
EPA
31/35 Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany
Reuters
32/35 Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin
Reuters
33/35 Iranian worshippers in Tehran
AFP via Getty
34/35 Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged
AFP via Getty
35/35 Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran
EPA
1/35 This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January
AP
2/35 The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January
Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters
3/35 Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces
Reuters
4/35 A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump
AP
5/35 Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America
EPA
6/35 Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader"
AFP via Getty
7/35 A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January
AP
8/35 Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran
EPA
9/35 Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa
AFP via Getty
10/35 A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq
EPA
11/35 A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman
KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty
12/35 Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran
EPA
13/35 Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan
EPA
14/35 Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon
AP
15/35 People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran
AP
16/35 Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib
AFP via Getty
17/35 A demonstration in Tehran
AFP via Getty
18/35 An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran
EPA
19/35 Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf
AFP via Getty
20/35 Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan
EPA
21/35 Protesters demonstrate in Tehran
AP
22/35 Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan
EPA
23/35 Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London
PA
24/35 Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran
AP
25/35 A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing
AFP via Getty
26/35 Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran
AFP via Getty
27/35 Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest
AP
28/35 Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers
Reuters
29/35 A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan
EPA
30/35 Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran
EPA
31/35 Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany
Reuters
32/35 Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin
Reuters
33/35 Iranian worshippers in Tehran
AFP via Getty
34/35 Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged
AFP via Getty
35/35 Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran
EPA
US forces in Iraq have been on high alert in recent months amid increased tensions with Iran and allied militias in Iraq. Those tensions skyrocketed following the US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pledged to take "severe revenge" for the killing.
Long running tensions over Iran's nuclear programme spiked in December last year, when a rocket blamed on Iran-backed militias killed a US contractor at a base near Kirkuk, northern Iraq. The US responded with a wave of airstrikes targeting Kataib Hezbollah in Syria and Iraq.
Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike near Baghdad airport before dawn on January 3. Iran responded by launching more than a dozen missiles at two bases housing US personnel in Iraq.
An Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “We can confirm we are aware of an incident involving UK service personnel at Camp Taji, Iraq.
“An investigation is underway, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”