UPDATE - 14 rockets hit military base in Iraq housing US troops

UPDATES WITH IRANIAN-LINKED BRIGADE CLAIMING ATTACK, BACKGROUND; REVISES DECK

By Mahmoud Barakat and Haydar Karaalp

ANKARA, BAGHDAD (AA) – At least two US soldiers in Iraq were injured Wednesday after over a dozen rockets hit a military base which houses US soldiers, officials said.

“At approx. 12:30 PM local time (0930GMT), Ain Al-Assad Air Base was attacked by 14 rockets. The rockets landed on the base and perimeter. Force protection defensive measures were activated … Damage is being assessed," Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the US-led international coalition against Daesh/ISIS, said on Twitter.

In a later tweet, the spokesman said two personnel had sustained minor injuries.

The attack was carried out by a Shia militia called Al-Muhandis's Revenge Brigade, according to a social media statement by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups.

After the US assassinated Iranian commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in January 2020, Iran vowed to get revenge.

On Tuesday evening, the International Airport in Erbil, capital of the northern Iraq Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) region, where US soldiers are stationed, was also attacked with bomb-laden drones.

*Zehra Nur Duz contributed to story in Ankara.