SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Security forces thwarted an attack on convoys of a contractor belonging to the U.S.-led Coalition forces in southern Iraq, Iraqi media reported late on Saturday.
Shafaaq News cited a security source as saying that a team of the security forces managed to defuse an explosive device” planted on the highway between Dhi Qar and Muthanna provinces.
“The device was planted there to target convoys of logistical support,” the source said.
Two contractor convoys transferring equipment for the Coalition forces were hit by improvised explosive devices (IED) in Diwaniyah and Babil provinces on December 27 and 25.
A driver of one of the convoys was wounded in the attack in Diwaniyah.
The IED attacks came after a volley of rockets exploded near the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on December 20.
The Iraqi military said that an “outlaw group” fired the rockets at Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings, U.S. Embassy and other foreign missions.
Washington blames Iran-backed militias for regular rocket attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq, including near the embassy. No known Iran-backed groups have claimed responsibility.
