2 rockets hit military base near Baghdad

The attack came two days after US and Iraqi officials held a strategic dialogue session via a video conference. The military bases housing US troops across Iraq and the US embassy have been frequently targeted by mortar and rocket attacks. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Baghdad:Two Katyusha rockets on Saturday hit a military base, housing US forces, near the Iraqi capital Baghdad without casualties, the Iraqi military said.

The attack took place in the evening when the two rockets fired from an area outside the government-owned industrial facility and landed on al-Taji Camp, some 20 km north of Baghdad, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a brief statement.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, as the military bases housing US troops across Iraq and the US embassy have been frequently targeted by mortar and rocket attacks.

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The attack came two days after US and Iraqi officials held a strategic dialogue session via a video conference in which the US pledged to continue reducing its forces in Iraq and confirmed that it does not seek permanent military presence in the country.

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The Iraqi-US relations have witnessed a tension since January 3 when a US drone struck a convoy at Baghdad airport, which killed Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.

The US airstrike prompted the Iraqi parliament on January 5 to pass a resolution, requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in the country.

More than 5,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the Islamic State militants, mainly providing training and advising to the Iraqi forces.

(IANS)