Iraqi Base Housing US Soldiers Targeted for Second Time in Week

Iraqi officials have confirmed that rocket fire struck the same military base just north of Baghdad where three people, including two Americans, were killed last week. According to the Pentagon, three American soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously, during the latest barrage of over 30 projectiles to hit Camp Taji. The previous attack occurred on Wednesday and precipitated retaliatory US air strikes on military installations belonging to Kataib Hizbullah, an Iranian-backed armed group the US blamed for the assault. Tehran-aligned fighters, known collectively as Popular Mobilization Units, have over the past six months targeted at least 20 US installations in Iraq. The country has become a primary battleground for tit-for-tat military exchanges between Washington and the Islamic Republic, although tensions had subsided significantly since the January killing in a US drone strike of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Thereafter, Iran launched a coordinated ballistic missile attack on two Iraqi bases housing US troops as the two countries edged to the brink of war.