Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he is “outraged” by a missile strike on a US-led military base in Northern Iraq that killed a contractor and injured six others – including a US soldier on Monday.
Why it matters: While it is unclear who carried out the attack on the mostly peaceful Kurdish city of Erbil, it comes amid heightened tensions over the threat from Iranian-backed militias against US targets in Iraq, according to the New York Times.
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- The militias have previously been accused of previous attacks in Iraq.
Details: A barrage of missiles was fired on residential areas of Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, during the attack, landing near the Chinese consulate, the NYT reports.
- Blinken said the initial reports “indicate that the attacks killed a civilian contractor and injured several members of the coalition, including a US military member and several US contractors.”
- He said he had contacted Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, “to discuss the incident and pledge our support for all efforts to investigate and hold those responsible to account”.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with more details about the attack.