A statement issued by the public affairs office of Operation Inherent Resolve indicated approximately 12 additional personnel members were wounded during the strike, and that the names of the three individuals killed would be withheld in accordance with department policies.
Previous reports by Iraqi officials indicated that there were no casualties when the strike unfolded at roughly 7:35 p.m. local time.
Photos shared online by the Iraqi Security Media Cell show three undeployed missiles loaded onto a platform hitched onto the back of a small vehicle.
— خلية الإعلام الأمني🇮🇶 (@SecMedCell) March 11, 2020
Earlier, Col. Myles Caggins III, spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve, issued a tweet hours after reports first surfaced of the incident, confirming that the attack involved the use of more than 15 small rockets; however, the newly issued update noted that approximately 18 108 millimeter Katyusha rockets were used to strike the base.
An investigation into the rocket attack against the base, which is located roughly 17 miles north of Baghdad, is ongoing.
The strike came as news surfaced that the US would be moving air and missile defense systems into Iraq in order to defend against ballistic missile and drone threats. That development followed two months after the Ayn al-Asad Air Base in Western Iraq was struck by some 16 Iranian missiles.
