ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Four rockets targeted Salahaddin's Balad airbase on Thursday without causing any damage, according to a statement from the Iraqi Security Media Cell.
The rockets were allegedly launched from Khalis district, northwest of Baquba by “gangs that do not want stability for Iraq”, landing in open spaces in the airbase, reported the cell. The statement added that the rockets “did not leave behind any material or human damages.”
The media cell also stated that the authorities will hunt down the perpetrators of this “cowardly terrorist act”, reassuring Iraqi citizens that “the acts of criminal terrorist gangs will not pass unless the perpetrators are put behind bars and under the judgment of the law.”
Balad airbase, the main base for Iraqi F-16 fighter aircrafts, has been the subject of at least five similar rocket attacks within the past year. The base used to host a number of contractors from an American security firm specialized in the maintenance and supervision of aircrafts, before they evacuated due to security concerns.
In recent months, tens of rocket attacks have targeted Iraqi facilities hosting foreign diplomats and soldiers, including the US embassy in Baghdad.
Similar attacks on international targets in Iraq are blamed on Iran-backed Iraqi militias who want to force American forces to withdraw from the country. The attacks increased after the US assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020.
By Chenar Chalak
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