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Rockets, Drones Hit Iraqi Bases Housing US Forces, Security Sources Say 


FILE - An aerial photo taken from a helicopter shows Ain al-Asad air base in the western Anbar desert, Iraq, Dec. 29, 2019.
FILE - An aerial photo taken from a helicopter shows Ain al-Asad air base in the western Anbar desert, Iraq, Dec. 29, 2019.

Drones and rockets fired Thursday evening targeted Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts U.S. and other international forces in western Iraq, and multiple blasts were heard inside the base, two security sources said.

The Iraqi military said it closed the area around the base in Anbar province and started a search operation. It was not clear yet whether the attacks caused casualties or damages, the sources said.

Rockets hit another military base hosting U.S. forces near Baghdad's international airport, Iraqi police said Thursday, without providing further details.

The latest attacks were the third and fourth within 24 hours to target Iraqi military bases that host U.S. forces in Iraq.

U.S. military forces in Iraq were targeted on Wednesday in two separate drone attacks, with one causing minor injuries to a small number of troops even though the U.S. military intercepted the armed drone.

Last week, Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran threatened to target U.S. interests with missiles and drones if Washington intervened to support Israel against Hamas in Gaza.

The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, and 900 more in neighboring Syria, on a mission to advise and assist local forces in combating Islamic State, which in 2014 seized swaths of territory in both countries.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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