Rockets hit Iraqi air base, 2 security forces wounded

In late 2020, U.S. troop levels in Iraq were reduced to 2,500 after withdrawals based on orders from the Trump administration.Calls grew for further U.S. troop withdrawals after a U.S.-directed drone strike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad in January 2020.Last month, a base in western Iraq housing U.S.-led coalition troops and contractors was hit by 10 rockets.

Multiple rockets hit an Iraqi airbase just north of the capital Baghdad Sunday, wounding two Iraqi security forces, Iraq's news agency said. It said at least two rockets exploded in and around the Balad airbase, which houses US trainers. The attack comes few days after an explosives-laden drone targeted U.S.-led coalition forces near a northern Iraq airport, causing a large fire and damage to a building. The incident was the latest in a string of attacks that have targeted mostly American installations in Iraq in recent weeks.

American forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011 but returned in 2014 at the invitation of Iraq to help battle the Islamic State group after it seized vast areas in the north and west of the country. In late 2020, U.S. troop levels in Iraq were reduced to 2,500 after withdrawals based on orders from the Trump administration.

Calls grew for further U.S. troop withdrawals after a U.S.-directed drone strike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad in January 2020.

Last month, a base in western Iraq housing U.S.-led coalition troops and contractors was hit by 10 rockets. One contractor was killed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)