An unguided Katyusha rocket was fired Sunday night at Baghdad International Airport, near where US troops and diplomats are located one night after the US military shot down one, according to US officials.
While no one was injured or killed and the damage seemed minimal, it marked the seventh rocket attack at the airport in less than a month, officials told Fox News, accusing Iranian-backed militias of the attack.
Increased attacks on US and coalition forces led the US military to recently deploy C-RAM [“Counter-rocket, artillery and mortar”] – which could fire 3,000 rounds of 20 mm high-explosive tracers per minute – to protect the Green Zone that houses the United States Embassy.
Early Sunday morning, the US C-RAM shot down a Katyusha rocket for the first time since it was deployed in the capital of Iraq, according to US officials.
The rocket debris fell into a residential area after being shot down.
“We have the right to defend ourselves,” said the official.
The deployment of the defensive weapons system was carried out after consultations with the Iraqi government, the official said.
C-RAM is the terrestrial version of CWIS [close-in weapons system] that American warships have used for decades.
C-RAM has protected US troops at bases in Iraq for many years, since the Iraq War.
A statement by the US-led coalition said that another rocket attack early Sunday morning resulted in four Iraqi casualties.
“This attack is one more illustration of the indiscriminate nature of these attacks, how [Iranian-backed militias] harm Iraq’s sovereignty and security, and our need for self-defense capabilities, “the statement read.
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In early May, Iraq’s parliament elected a 53-year-old former intelligence chief, backed by the United States, as the new prime minister.
In his short time in office, Kadhimi appears to be taking a tougher line against Iranian-backed militias at the behest of senior US military officials after a series of rocket attacks on US troops inside Iraq.
Late last month, Iraqi forces attacked a base in southern Baghdad used by the Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah, accused of launching rocket attacks against US and allied forces in recent months.
But, just days later, 14 Kataib Hezbollah members were released on bail, Reuters reported, adding that it was the most brazen action taken against the terrorist group in years by the Iraqi government.
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A rocket attack in March killed two US service members and a British Army doctor, prompting retaliatory air strikes by US planes on five weapons depots used to store the rockets.
There have been approximately 5,000 US troops deployed to Iraq.
