ERBIL (Reuters) – A rocket attack on U.S.-led forces in northern Iraq killed a civilian contractor on Monday and injured a U.S. service member, the U.S. coalition in Iraq said, in the deadliest such attack in almost a year.<\/p>\n
The rockets landed in and around a military air base operated by the coalition at Erbil International Airport.<\/p>\n
The coalition spokesman tweeted on Tuesday that the dead contractor was not American, but did not elaborate. He said three 107 mm rockets had landed inside the base.<\/p>\n
Of the nine other people hurt, eight were civilian contractors and one a U.S. service member, a coalition spokesman said. A U.S. official who declined to be named said the U.S. serviceman had concussion.<\/p>\n
The attack, claimed by a little-known group that some Iraqi officials say has links with Iran, raises tensions as Washington explores some degree of detente with Iran.<\/p>\n
It also comes just three weeks before a March 5-8 visit to Iraq by Pope Francis, which is due to include Erbil, the capital of Iraq\u2019s Kurdish autonomous region.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was \u201coutraged\u201d by the attack.<\/p> Powerful paramilitary groups aligned with Iran in Iraq and Yemen have launched attacks against the United States and its Arab allies in recent weeks, including a drone attack on a Saudi airport and a rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.<\/p>\n Iraq\u2019s government under Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has sided with the United States but has found it hard to bring the groups under control.<\/p>\n Most of the incidents have caused no casualties, but they have kept up pressure on U.S. troops and U.S. allies in the early days of Joe Biden\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s administration is weighing a return to the 2015 big power nuclear deal that aimed to curb Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, which his predecessor Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.<\/p>\n Iran says it will only resume compliance with the deal if Washington lifts crippling sanctions.<\/p>\n