Iraq rocket attack kills foreign contractor

ARBIL: A volley of rockets targeting an airbase in Iraq’s Kurdistan region killed a foreign civilian contractor and wounded five others and a US soldier, the US-led coalition said.

The attack late Monday was the first time in nearly two months that Western military or diplomatic installations have been targeted in Iraq, after a string of similar incidents.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for an investigation and promised to “hold accountable those responsible”.

“Several American contractors” appeared to have been wounded, he added, without giving further details.

Iraqi and Western security sources told AFP that at least three rockets were fired in the direction of the city’s airport, where foreign troops are based as part of an international alliance fighting the Islamic State group.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto confirmed to AFP that the dead contractor was not Iraqi, but could not give immediate details on the victim’s nationality.

Since Iraq declared victory against IS in late 2017, the coalition has been reduced to under 3,500 troops in total, 2,500 of them Americans. Most are concentrated at the military complex at the Arbil airport, a coalition source told AFP.

The attack was claimed by a shadowy group calling itself “Awliyaa al-Dam” or “Guardians of Blood”.

Two other rockets hit residential neighbourhoods on Arbil’s outskirts.

Delovan Jalal, the head of Arbil’s health directorate, told AFP at least five civilians were wounded and one was in critical condition.

The Kurdistan region’s interior ministry confirmed “several rockets” had hit the city and said security agencies had launched a “detailed investigation”, urging civilians to stay home until further notice.

Following the attack, security forces deployed around the airport and helicopters could be heard on the city’s edges, an AFP correspondent said.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh tweeted that the attack marked a “dangerous escalation and a criminal terrorist act”.

Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the autonomous Kurdish region, condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”.