Several US troops injured in rocket attack in Iraq, officials say

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Several U.S. personnel were injured in a suspected rocket attack at a military base in Iraq, U.S. defense officials said Monday, in what has been a recent uptick in strikes on American forces by Iranian-backed militias.

The attack comes as tensions across the Middle East are spiking following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran, in suspected Israeli strikes. Both groups are backed by Iran.

The U.S. defense officials said troops at al-Asad air base were still assessing the injuries and damage, and it appeared that as many as seven military troops and civilians were injured. Earlier Monday, Iraqi security officials confirmed the attack, but no group has claimed responsibility.

The American officials said the U.S. looked into reports of a possible second attack at the base but determined there had not been another one.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. The White House said the president and vice president were briefed on the attack.

In recent weeks, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have resumed launching attacks on bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria after a lull of several months, following a strike on a base in Jordan in late January that killed three American soldiers and prompted a series of retaliatory U.S. strikes.

Between October and January, an umbrella group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq had regularly claimed attacks that it said were in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza and were aimed at pushing U.S. troops out of the region.

Associated Press writers Joshua Boak in Washington and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.

编者按：这是一则正在更新的新闻，我们将随着更多信息的披露进行更新。

美国国防部官员周一表示，伊拉克一处军事基地疑似遭到火箭弹袭击，造成多名美军人员受伤。近期，伊朗支持的民兵组织对美军的袭击事件有所增加。

此次袭击发生之际，中东地区紧张局势急剧升级。上周，黎巴嫩真主党一名高级指挥官和伊朗哈马斯最高政治领导人疑似在以色列的空袭中丧生。这两个组织都得到伊朗的支持。

美国国防部官员表示，阿萨德空军基地的部队仍在评估伤亡和损失情况，据估计，多达7名军人和平民受伤。周一早些时候，伊拉克安全官员证实了此次袭击，但目前尚无任何组织声称对此负责。

美国官员表示，美国调查了有关该基地可能遭受第二次袭击的报道，但确定没有发生第二次袭击。

这些官员在匿名的情况下讨论了军事行动。白宫表示，总统和副总统已听取了有关此次袭击的简报。

最近几周，在经历了几个月的平静之后，伊朗支持的伊拉克民兵组织恢复了对驻伊拉克和叙利亚美军基地的袭击。此前，1 月下旬，约旦的一个基地遭到袭击，造成三名美国士兵死亡，并引发了美国的一系列报复性打击。

从 10 月到 1 月，一个名为“伊拉克伊斯兰抵抗运动”的伞式组织经常声称对袭击事件负责，称这些袭击是对华盛顿支持以色列打击加沙哈马斯的报复，目的是将美军赶出该地区。

美联社驻华盛顿记者 Joshua Boak 和驻巴格达记者 Qassim Abdul-Zahra 对本报道亦有贡献。