SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi forces thwarted a drone attack on Balad air base in Saladin province early on Saturday, Iraq’s security media cell said.
The Iraqi military said the security forces that guard the air base noticed three drones approaching the southern perimeter of Balad Air Base at dawn on Saturday.
“The force opened fire at the drones” and foiled the attack on the base, it added.
A serious of attacks this month, which the United States blames on Iran-backed militia groups, have targeted bases or installations hosting U.S. military and diplomatic personnel.
A woman and a child were wounded in a rocket attack directed against the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Thursday. One of the rockets fell in a school.
Iraqi military officials told Reuters that the attack involved two to three Katyusha rocket attacks being fired toward the embassy and at least two of them shot down by the embassy’s rocket defense system.
The Iran-aligned militia have in previous years carried out dozens of similar attacks, mostly causing little harm, but the attacks have become more sophisticated in the past year including with the use of fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones.
