SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on Wednesday attacks on Iraqi bases cannot be “justified under any title or name”, as rocket attacks continue on bases housing U.S.-led Coalition troops.
Kadhimi chaired a meeting of the ministerial council for national security on Wednesday, a few hours after 10 rockets landed at Ain al-Asad air base.
The Iraqi military said the attack did not cause “any significant loses” and that the security forces had also found the place of the launch pad, but did not clarify where it was launched.
It was the second rocket attack in Iraq this month and came two days before Pope Francis is due to visit the country.
“Such attacks are carried out by groups that have no true affiliation with Iraq and targeting Iraqi military bases cannot be justified under any title or name, and they harm the progress achieved by Iraq,” Kadhimi said during the meeting, according to a statement released by his office.
“The security services have clear directions to take a decisive position against these groups, regardless of their names and allegations,” he added.
Kadhimi also said the perpetrators should be held accountable, according to the statement.
Reuters cited a Baghdad Operations Command official as saying that about 13 rockets were launched from a location about 8 km (5 miles) from the base.
Another Iraqi security source and a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters that the rockets were launched from the Baiader area, west of Baghdadi city.
Kadhimi and the security officials also discuss the upcoming visit of Pope Francis to Iraq during the meeting, the statement read.
The pope is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad on Friday for a three-day trip.
The trip by the 84-year-old leader of the world’s Catholics was announced in December, and will take in the capital Baghdad, as well as Ur, a city linked to the Old Testament figure of Abraham, and Erbil, Mosul and Qaraqosh in the plain of Nineveh.
