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Roadside bomb attacks hit US-led coalition convoys in southern Iraq, Anbar

Thursday, 18 March 2021 6:12 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 18 March 2021 6:43 PM ]

In this file picture, US soldiers prepare for a live-fire exercise southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. (Photo by AFP)

Four roadside bombs have separately gone off near convoys of trucks carrying equipment belonging to US-led coalition forces in Iraq’s southern provinces of al-Qadisiyah and al-Muthanna as well as the western province of Anbar.

An Iraqi security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Iraq’s Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network that an explosive device exploded while a convoy was passing along a highway near the city of al-Diwaniyah, located 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital Baghdad, on Thursday.

The source added that the explosion left damage with no report on casualties, noting that police forces have cordoned off the scene and launched an investigation.

Roadside bomb attacks target US-led coalition convoys across Iraq

Four roadside bomb attacks target separate convoys of trucks carrying logistical equipment belonging to the US-led coalition forces across Iraq.

Also on Thursday evening, two explosive devices detonated in Samawah city, situated 280 kilometers (174 miles) southeast of Baghdad, while vehicles of the US-led coalition forces were passing by. The explosions reportedly left no losses.

Sabereen News, a news channel associated with Iraqi anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units, later reported that another blast had taken place when a US-led convoy was moving on a highway in the western province of Anbar.

There was no immediate information about casualties.

No groups or individuals have claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks yet.

The attacks come amid rising anti-US sentiment, which has intensified since last year's assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad.

General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the PMU, were targeted along with their companions on January 3, 2020 in a terror drone strike authorized by former US president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport.

Katyusha rockets target Ain al-Assad military base housing US forces in western Iraq

A rocket attack hits the Ain al-Assad air base in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, with no immediate reports about the extent of damage and possible casualties.

Two days after the attack, Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill that requires the government to end the presence of all foreign military forces led by the US in the country.

Currently, there are approximately 2,500 American troops in Iraq.

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