Rockets Target U.S. Military, Foreign Oil Firms in Iraq

A short-range Katyusha rocket landed at an oil exploration site near the southeastern Iraqi city of Basra early on Wednesday, wounding three people, according to Iraqi military sources. Several international oil firms maintain equipment and personnel at the site. One of those firms, ExxonMobil, is reportedly evacuating employees from the area. Wednesday’s rocket strike followed a rocket attack the day before in the area of a base hosting U.S. troops near Mosul, in northern Iraq. Similarly, the rocket was identified as a Katyusha, a weapon favored by insurgents. On Monday, several rockets hit a base housing U.S. forces north of Baghdad. There were no casualties in either of those two attacks. In mid-May, a rocket – also described as a Katyusha – landed in a neighborhood of Baghdad known as the Green Zone that houses embassies and government offices, among them that of the United States. Just prior to that attack, Washington ordered the removal of families and non-essential diplomatic personnel.