One Dead In Rocket Attack On Iraq Base Hosting US Troops

A rocket attack on an Iraqi base hosting US-led coalition troops Wednesday claimed a contractor's life, security sources said, just two days before Pope Francis is due to visit the country

Baghdad, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Mar, 2021 ) :A rocket attack on an Iraqi base hosting US-led coalition troops Wednesday claimed a contractor's life, security sources said, just two days before Pope Francis is due to visit the country.

At least 10 rockets slammed into the sprawling Ain al-Assad military base in Iraq's western desert after several weeks of escalating US-Iran tensions on Iraqi soil.

"One civilian contractor died of a heart attack during the attack," a high-level security source told AFP, adding that he could not confirm the contractor's nationality.

Francis was quick to say he will go ahead with the first-ever papal visit to the war-scarred country so as not to "disappoint" the Iraqi people.

"The day after tomorrow, God willing, I will go to Iraq for a three-day pilgrimage," the 84-year-old pontiff said in his Wednesday address. "For a long time I have wanted to meet these people who have suffered so much."Ain al-Assad hosts Iraqi forces and US-led coalition troops helping fight the Islamic State group. It is also a base for drones the coalition uses to surveil militant sleeper cells.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto said 10 rockets hit the base at 7:20 am (0420 GMT) and Iraqi security forces said they had found the platform from which 10 "Grad-type rockets" were fired.