Tasnim News – A drone attack was launched Wednesday by an Iraqi resistance group against an airbase housing US forces and warplanes north of the capital Baghdad.
Sabereen News, a news channel associated with Iraq’s anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units or Hashd al-Sha’abi, said the attack targeted the al-Balad Airbase that lies 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of the capital.
It said the sound of explosion rang out of the base during the incident, adding, “An Iraqi resistance group, which did not identify itself, claimed responsibility for the attack.”
“The American military branch that is deployed to the al-Balad Airbase was targeted with drone moments earlier, and the aircraft hit its target accurately,” read a statement by the anti-occupation group carried by the news channel.
The kamikaze aircraft are the most recent addition to the arsenal of the Iraqi groups, who strongly object to the US’s continued military intervention in their country.
The airbase came under another attack around a week ago, which, according to Americans, wounded “two Iraqi forces,” but did not afflict any casualties on the US troops.
The attacks have risen in number and frequency since early last year, when a US drone strike martyred senior Iranian and Iraqi counter-terrorism commanders, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, targeting their convoy in Baghdad.
Both commanders enjoyed huge reverence for their contribution to the regional anti-terror fight, with General Soleimani winning fame as the region’s most decisive and popular counter-terrorism commander.
