“Each attack… undermines the authority of Iraqi institutions, the rule of law and Iraqi national sovereignty,” said US-led coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A drone packed with explosives hit an Iraqi base housing US troops early Saturday causing damage but no casualties, the Iraqi military and the US-led coalition said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack on the Ain Al-Asad air base was the fourth targeting US troops in Iraq in less than a week, as an armed campaign blamed on pro-Iranian groups intensifies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Each attack… undermines the authority of Iraqi institutions, the rule of law and Iraqi national sovereignty,” said coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“No injuries reported. A hangar was damaged,” he said in a tweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was only the second time authorities publicly confirmed a drone had been used in an attack on a target inside Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In April, a drone packed with explosives hit the coalition’s Iraq headquarters in the military part of the airport in the Kurdish regional capital Arbil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack sent shock waves around Iraq — the tactic poses a headache for the coalition, as drones can evade the C-RAM air defences it has installed to protect its bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But an Iraqi government official told AFP that the Arbil strike was not the first use of a drone against a target inside Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Drones were used by pro-Iran groups more than once before the attack in Arbil,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the meantime, there has been no let-up in rocket and other attacks carried out by the coalition’s foes over the past 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since last Sunday, they have fired two rockets at Ain al-Assad, six at the Balad air base and two at Baghdad airport, all of which host coalition troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US embassy in Baghdad and coalition supply convoys have also come under repeated attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the attacks have been carried out in the name of shadowy groups regarded as little more than cover names for the main pro-Iran factions. Others have gone unclaimed.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Each attack… undermines the authority of Iraqi institutions, the rule of law and Iraqi national sovereignty,” said US-led coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto. A drone packed with explosives hit an Iraqi base housing US troops early Saturday causing damage but no casualties, the Iraqi military and the US-led coalition said. The attack on the Ain Al-Asad air base was the fourth targeting US troops in Iraq in less than a week, as an armed campaign blamed on pro-Iranian groups intensifies. “Each attack… undermines the authority of Iraqi institutions, the rule…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30234,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30232\/revisions\/30234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}