Hangar damaged in drone strike on US airbase in Iraq’s Ain al-Asad
An air base in Iraq’s western province of Anbar housing American troops has come under attack, damaging a hangar for military aircraft.
“This morning at 02:20 [local time] (2320 GMT Friday) Ain al-Asad Air Base was attacked by an unmanned aerial surveillance system. No injuries reported. A hangar was damaged. The attack is under investigation,” Colonel Wayne Marotto, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, wrote in a post published on his official Twitter page on Saturday.
The Security Media Cell, affiliated with the Iraqi prime minister’s office, also confirmed the attack in a statement.
It said an explosives-laden drone had crashed inside the air base, located about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, without causing any damage.
This is while Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units – better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi – reported that several rockets had hit Ain al-Asad Air base on Saturday morning.
The report added that C-RAM systems as well as Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) missile systems deployed at the base failed to intercept the rockets.