Developing: Officials confirm second rocket attack on Iraq base housing Australian, US troops

A barrage of rockets has hit the Taji Military Complex, a base housing US and other coalition troops north of Baghdad, Iraqi security officials say, just days after a similar attack killed three servicemen, including two Americans.

The Australian Department of Defence confirmed the attack in a statement on Saturday night.

"There are no Australian casualties, with all Australian Defence Force personnel confirmed as being safe," the statement read.

"Defence condemns these attacks and continues to closely monitor the situation along with our Coalition partners.

"The safety of our personnel deployed on operations is our highest priority."

This photo released by the government-affiliated Media Security Cell on March 12, 2020, shows a rocket-rigged truck launcher after a rocket attack on Camp Taji, a few miles north of Baghdad, in Rashidiya, Iraq. Iraq's military on Thursday said it opened an investigation into the rocket attack that hours earlier killed three servicemen, including two Americans, at an Iraqi base housing coalition forces that has been used as a training base for a number of years. (Media Security Cell via AP) (AP)

The Iraqi officers, who spoke earlier condition of anonymity, said over a dozen rockets landed inside the base, some struck the coalition quarters while others fell on a runway used by Iraqi forces.

The attack was unusual because it occurred during the day – around midday local time. Previous assaults on military bases housing US troops typically occurred overnight.

The earlier attack against Camp Taji on Wednesday prompted American airstrikes on Friday against what US officials said were mainly weapons facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group believed to be responsible.

However, Iraq's military said those airstrikes killed five security force members and a civilian.

Iran-backed Shi'Ite militia groups vowed to exact revenge for Friday's US strikes, signalling another cycle of tit-for-tat violence between Washington and Tehran that could play out inside Iraq.

Wednesday's attack on Camp Taji was the deadliest to target US troops in Iraq since a late December rocket attack on an Iraqi base. That attack killed a US contractor and set in motion a series of attacks that brought Iraq to the brink of war.

After the contractor was killed, American airstrikes targeting the Kataib Hezbollah led to protests at the US embassy in Baghdad.

A US drone strike in Baghdad then killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, a top commander responsible for expeditionary operations across the wider Mideast.

Iran struck back with a ballistic missile attack on US forces in Iraq, the Islamic Republic's most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the US embassy in Tehran.

The US and Iran stepped stepped back from further attacks after the Soleimani incident. A senior US official said in late January, when US-Iran tensions had cooled, that the killing of Americans constituted a red line that could spark more violence.

– Reported with AAP.

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