New attack on Iraqi air base fits profile of Iran-backed groups, officials

There were no reports of injuries among U.S. service personnel but an American civilian contractor died after suffering a “cardiac episode” while sheltering from the rockets, the Pentagon said.

President Joe Biden said U.S. officials were examining the incident closely.

“Thank God no one was killed by the rocket ... We’re identifying whose responsible and we’ll make judgments at that point,” Biden told reporters before a meeting with lawmakers in the Oval Office.

Iraqi officials said 10 rockets landed at the base but the Pentagon was more guarded, saying there were 10 “impacts.” It said the rockets appeared to have been fired from multiple sites east of the Iraqi base, which was targeted last year by a ballistic missile attack directly from Iran.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the latest strike fit the profile of an attack by Iran-backed militia but the Pentagon said it was too soon to come to any conclusions.

“We cannot attribute responsibility at this time, and we do not have a complete picture of the extent of the damage,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby added.

 No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The United States is assessing the impact of the attack and whoever was responsible, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

U.S. won't "shy away" from responding when necessary, Pentagon says after Iraq rocket attack

“If we assess that further response is warranted, we will take action again in a manner and time of our choosing,” she told a news briefing.

“What we won’t do is make a hasty or ill-informed decision that further escalates the decision or plays into the hands of our adversaries.”

A Baghdad Operations Command official said Wednesday’s attack was launched from a location about eight km (five miles) from the base, which is in the westerly Anbar province.

Another Iraqi security source and a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the rockets had been launched from a point west of the nearby town of Baghdadi.

Earlier, the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades denied on Wednesday, responsibility for the rocket attack.

The Directorate General of Counter Terrorism in the Region stated that a person confessed of being behind the attack saying the Sayyid Al-Shuhada Brigades directed him to carry out the operation.

The General Secretariat of the Sayyid Al-Shuhada Brigades said in a statement that "the person does not belong to us, and we deny the attack on the American base in Erbil," calling on the Kurdistan Regional Government and its politicians not to believe the American accusations.

The Brigades called on the Iraqi government to "protect its formations, and to confront the random arrests."