Three rockets fired at Baghdad airport where US troops stationed

Iran-backed militias suspected as one rocket intercepted, others exploded with no injuries or damage reported.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Suspected Iranian-backed militias fired rockets Sunday night at an American military base that is attached to Baghdad’s international airport, but no damage or injuries were reported.

“Rocket attack earlier tonight on the Camp Victory part of Baghdad airport,” tweeted the UK-based Cavel Group, a security firm that specializes in terror assessment. “Varying reporting contradictions, but it seems at least 3 107mm rockets fired.”

The report said at least one of the rockets was intercepted by U.S. troops equipped with the C-RAM (Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar) Phalanx system – a massive six-ton machine-gun that fires up to 75 rounds per second to intercept incoming rockets just before they hit. A second rocket exploded on the edge of the airport.

“No reports of casualties. IRGC backed militias will be responsible,” the group reported, indicating that proxy militias backed by the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps were behind the attack that appeared to target the American forces specifically.

An Iraqi Interior Ministry source told the Chinese Xinhua news agency that air-raid sirens were sounded during the attack in a military base housing U.S. forces near the airport, without giving more details.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, but militias affiliated with Iran have targeted U.S. military installations across Iraq as well as the “Green Zone” in Baghdad that houses the U.S. embassy complex.

It was the third such attack in the last two weeks. On April 22, eight rockets were fired with three exploding near the airport complex near areas known to contain Iraqi security forces, but no injuries were reported. A few days earlier, a similar rocket attack wounded two Iraqi soldiers at a base where American military advisers are also stationed.

In March, 10 rockets were fired at a base in western Iraq housing U.S.-led coalition troops, killing one U.S. contractor.