At least one American military service member was wounded and one civilian contractor was killed after rockets struck the Erbil International Airport in Iraq, according to reports.
There were about fourteen 107mm rockets fired at the airport at around 9:30 p.m. local time, which sparked fires and halted flights in the Kurdish capital city. A U.S. military spokesman reported one civilian contractor killed, 8 civilian contractors injured, and 1 U.S. service member injured.
“We assure the people and dear citizens of Kurdistan that the Peshmerga forces are always ready to defend and secure the safety of the people and the land of Kurdistan,” the Peshmerga Ministry said in a statement, pledging that attacks on coalition forces would be treated the same as an attack on the Peshmerga forces. “Now, more than ever, we need unity and with the high morale of Peshmerga forces, we will defeat the terrorists, and we will not allow the lives of our people to be endangered in any way.”
According to Reuters, a group calling itself Saraya Awliya al-Dam claimed responsibility for the attack on the airport, which houses a small contingent of U.S. troops, saying it targeted the “American occupation” in Iraq.