BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – The American wing of the Balad Air Base, north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad was the target of drone strikes on Saturday, according to reports.
According to the reports, the sound of several explosions was heard.
Alarms went off at the base and a plume of smoke rose from inside the U.S. military wing following the attack by multiple drones. The attack may be ongoing.
The severity of the damage, injuries, or casualties has yet to be reported.
No group has taken responsibility for the attack.
Balad Air Base, located in Iraq’s Saladin province, 64 kilometers north of Baghdad, is the country’s largest military base.
Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, reported that a number of combat drones hit the military compound 64 km north of Baghdad, on Saturday morning.
Sirens immediately sounded at the military compound, and the sound of gunfire could be heard from the site, it said.
The drone attack also sent dense plumes of smoke rising above the targeted area.
Alarms and calls in English were heard, asking the military personnel inside the base to take shelter and stay away from the scene.
According to Sabereen News, citing an unnamed security source, quadcopter and fixed-wing drones hit an office belonging to American arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corporation inside the air base.
A statement released by the Security Media Cell, affiliated with the Iraqi prime minister’s office, said three drones approached the southern flank of the air base on Saturday morning.
The statement said C-RAM and air defense systems detected the aircraft, and fired shots to force them off the airspace above the Balad Air base.
On Thursday, three rockets were fired at Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone.
“Two of those fell on the grounds of the American embassy and the other on a school nearby,” a senior security official told AFP news agency.
Anti-American sentiments have been on the rise in Iraq. Iraqi lawmakers have approved a bill that requires the government to end the presence of all foreign military forces led by the U.S. in the country.
Meanwhile, a senior security official with Iraq’s anti-terror Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) has blamed gangs backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom for the recent rocket attacks that targeted the fortified Green Zone in the capital, Baghdad.
Abu Ali al-Askari, who is in charge of the security bureau of Kata’ib Hezbollah, said in a tweet on Friday, “The launches of stray rockets at populated areas under the pretext of targeting the U.S. embassy are just an intentional targeting of innocent civilians.”
His remark came a day after three rockets were fired toward the Green Zone, two of which landed in the grounds of the U.S. Embassy. The third one fell on a nearby school, injuring a woman and a girl.
“The UAE-, UK- linked gangs are behind this crime,” al-Askari added.