Baghdad
A volley of rockets targeting an airbase in Iraq’s Kurdistan region killed a foreign civilian contractor and wounded five others.
The attack late on 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.
Former US president Donald Trump had threatened that the killing of an American national in such a rocket attack would prompt a mass bombing campaign in Iraq.
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 militant 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.—AFP
