Prime Minister Boris Johnson has today labelled an attack on an Iraqi military base that killed one British soldier as ‘deplorable’.
One British soldier and two American troops were killed, and about a dozen people were wounded when 15 small rockets hit Iraq’s Taji military camp north of Baghdad on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Defence said the deceased was a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Mr Johnson said: ‘It is with deep sadness that I learned that a UK soldier was killed in the attack at the Taji military base last night. My thoughts go out to their loved ones at this extremely difficult time.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured above on Wednesday during Prime Minister’s questions, today called the attack deplorable
‘Our servicemen and women work tirelessly every day to uphold security and stability in the region – their presence makes us all safer.
‘The Foreign Secretary has spoken to the US Secretary of State and we will continue to liaise with our international partners to fully understand the details of this abhorrent attack.’
This is while defence secretary Ben Wallace called the attack a ‘cowardly and retrograde act’.
‘The men and women of the UK armed forces are in Iraq to help that country establish stability and prosperity. The people that did this are not friends of Iraq.
‘My thoughts are with the families of those whose loved ones have been killed or injured. We shall not forget their sacrifice and will ensure those who committed these acts face justice.’
US officials last night said it was too early to assign blame, but any indication that Iran-backed militia were responsible could ignite a new round of military escalation between the United States and Iran.
US officials last night declined to quantify the number of troops and military contractors among the dead and wounded and noted that the information was just coming in and could change.
Initial battlefield reports often contain inaccuracies.
US soldiers walk around at the Taji base complex in Iraq which hosts Iraqi and US troops. Two American troops were killed in a rocket attack on the base at around 7.35pm Wednesday
Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson Army Colonel Myles Caggins shared these pictures on Twitter when confirming Wednesday’s rocket attack which killed two Americans
Army Colonel Myles Caggins, the Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson retweeted these images of rocket launchers on Wednesday when confirming the attack on Taji base in Iraq
Army Colonel Myles Caggins, a US military spokesman in Iraq, said that more than 15 small rockets hit Iraq’s Camp Taji base at around 7.35pm in Iraq on March 11.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Iraqi military said no casualties had been reported in the attack.
Camp Taji, located just north of Baghdad, has been used as a training base for a number of years.
There are as many as 6,000 US troops in Iraq, training and advising Iraqi forces and conducting counter-terror missions.
Iran-backed paramilitary groups have regularly been rocketing and shelling bases in Iraq that host US forces and the area around the US Embassy in Baghdad.
Army Colonel Myles Caggins shared these images when confirming the attack Wednesday
The attack is said to have involved 15 small rockets striking Taji Base in Iraq. Army Colonel Myles Caggins, a US military spokesman in Iraq, shared these images after the attack
Officials did not say what group they believe launched the rocket attack Wednesday, but Kataib Hezbollah or another Iranian-backed Shia militia group is likely.
The Kataib Hezbollah militia was blamed for an attack on a base last year which killed an American contractor, which led to retaliatory US strikes against it in Iraq and Syria.
On January 3, 11 Iranian ballistic missiles struck the al-Asad air base in Iraq after the United States killed top Iranian generals Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The Iranian attack led to more than 100 American service members being diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries.
Kataib Hezbollah has been designated as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ by the State Department since 2009.
The assessment and investigation into Wednesday’s attack is ongoing. It was the largeast attack on a US base in Iraq since January.
The attack came two days after enemy forces killed two U.S. service members while accompanying Iraqi forces in northern Iraq.
The deaths of both soldiers prompted the military’s top brass to order a review of how their forces conduct missions in Iraq and Syria following the deaths of the Special Operations service members.
The soldiers were killed by ‘enemy forces’ on a mission to knock out the stronghold Sunday in the mountains of north-central Iraq, according to a statement posted online by the Combined Joint Task Force, which commands Operation Inherent Resolve.
The unnamed soldiers who were killed had been part of a Marine Special Operations team that was working with Iraqi counterterrorism forces, reports the New York Times.
They had gotten in a fierce gun battle while clearing a well-defended cave complex in mountains near the town of Makhmur, which is about 40 miles southwest of Erbil, the Times reports.
Former U.S. special envoy Brett McGurk tweeted criticism over the length of time that it took to reclaim the dead who had to be pulled out with a hoist after falling into a crevice
US soldiers fighting the terrorist group known as ISIS in Iraq are seen in an image posted on Twitter by national security correspondent for Voice of America Jeff Seldin. Two service members killed during a raid Sunday were not identified pending notification of next of kin
One military official said the solders killed had to be pulled out with a hoist after falling into a crevice. A military spokesman confirmed additional forces were deployed to bring out the dead, which took almost six hours.
The review that was ordered in the wake of the soldier deaths will examine how U.S. military forces advise and accompany local troops.
During the review, American military operations will continue, they said.