U.S. Contractor Dies After Rocket Barrage Hits Iraqi Air Base

(Bloomberg) -- An American contractor died from a heart attack after a barrage of ten rockets targeted an airbase in western Iraq that hosts U.S.-led coalition troops, the Pentagon said in a statement.

There was no immediate claim for Wednesday’s attack on Al Asad Airbase, but it was the latest in a spate of attacks that have raised tensions days before a visit by Pope Francis.

“Iraqi security forces are on scene and investigating,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in the statement. “We cannot attribute responsibility at this time, and we do not have a complete picture of the extent of the damage. We stand by as needed to assist our Iraqi partners as they investigate.”

A Feb. 15 attack on a base in Erbil wounded a U.S. service member and four U.S. contractors and killed a Filipino contractor, prompting the U.S. to carry out air strikes against Iranian-backed fighters in eastern Syria last week.

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Kirby said Tuesday that the aim of that air strike “was to deter future attacks by militia groups on our people, our facilities and our Iraqi partners.”

The Al Asad base was also targeted last February in an attack which the U.S. blamed on Iran and in which around 100 service members suffered head injuries. Earlier this week an oil tanker off the coast of Iraq discovered a mine attached to its hull.

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Major General Tahseen al-Khafaji, a spokesman for Iraq’s joint operations command, said in a phone call that Iraqi forces were working to pinpoint where the rockets were launched from.

The attack comes ahead of a visit by Pope Francis to Iraq beginning March 5. The visit will not include western Iraq but will include Baghdad.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump blamed Iran for a rocket attack near the U.S. embassy in the Iraqi capital in December.

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