BAGHDAD, Nov 21 (Portal) – U.S. forces came under attack at an air base west of Baghdad on Tuesday and a U.S. military aircraft responded in self-defense, killing a number of Iranian-backed militants, U.S. officials said.
The Ain al-Asad air base was attacked by a ballistic missile at close range, resulting in eight injuries and minor damage to infrastructure, two US officials said.
The United States responded with an AC-130 aircraft that was already in the air, hitting an Iranian-backed militia vehicle and several people involved in the attack, said Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
She added that the aircraft was able to determine the point of origin and hit the militants because they were able to keep an eye on their movements.
This is the first public retaliation on Iraqi territory for recent militant drone and missile attacks on US troops. However, Singh said there had been previous reactions that had not been announced.
The United States had so far limited its response to the 66 attacks against its forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria claimed by Iran-aligned Iraqi militia groups to three separate series of attacks in Syria.
At least 62 U.S. personnel suffered mild or traumatic brain injuries in the attacks.
The attacks began on October 17 and were linked by Iraqi militia groups to US support for Israel in its bombing of Gaza following attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The strikes on U.S. targets ended a year-long ceasefire that Iraqi factions, some of which formed after the U.S. invasion in 2003 to combat U.S. troops and others in 2014 to combat the Islamic State, had reached with Washington.
Social media accounts linked to Iran-aligned Iraqi militias released a statement on behalf of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq mourning the loss of a member they said was fighting on Tuesday US forces were killed, without elaborating.
His killing is the first reported death in Iraq linked to the Gaza war, which also attracted other factions of Iran’s network of regional militias known as the Axis of Resistance, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The United States has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq. The mission says it aims to advise and support local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State, which captured large parts of both countries in 2014 before being defeated.
Reporting by Timour Azhari in Baghdad and Phil Stewart and Ali Idrees in Washington; Writing by Timour Azhari; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Alexandra Hudson, Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Porter
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