A civilian injured in the rocket attack targeting Erbil airport in northern Iraq last week has died, authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan announced Monday (February 22nd), bringing the death toll to two.
Read also: Iraq: rockets hit an air base housing American soldiers
A rocket salute struck on February 15 a military base hosting foreign troops in the airport of Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the coalition led by the United States and which has been helping Iraq since 2014 to fight the group jihadist Islamic State (IS).
Numerous rockets also hit the entire northwest of the town of Erbil, including residential areas, where they injured five civilians.
“
One of the wounded treated at the hospital died on Monday.
We could not save his life,
”said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health of this autonomous region, Bajjar Mousa.
The first victim of the February 15 attack was a foreign civilian contractor working with the anti-jihadist coalition, according to the coalition spokesperson.
The latter could not confirm the nationality of the victim but declared that she was not American.
Nine other people working at the military base were injured.
It was the first such attack in nearly two months against Western military or diplomatic installations in Iraq, after dozens of similar incidents last year attributed to pro-Iran Shiite groups.
The attack in Irbil was claimed by a little-known group calling itself al-Dam Awliyaa or "
Guardians of Blood
" ( "
The Blood Guardians
").
The group said in an online statement that it would continue to target US forces in Iraq.
Several Western countries condemned the rocket fire, warning that attacks against the coalition would "
not be tolerated
".
The UN has warned that Iraq could plunge again into instability.