2020 Camp Taji attacks


The 2020 Camp Taji attacks were rocket attacks that took place 11 March and 14 March 2020 targeting Al-Taji Camp, north of Baghdad in Baghdad Governorate, which hosts Coalition and United States Forces in Iraq.

Attacks

On 11 March 2020, 15 rockets landed on Camp Taji, killing two Americans and one British soldier from the Royal Army Medical Corps. The attack left 14 other US soldiers, contractors and coalition personnel wounded, five of them critically. One of the coalition wounded was identified as a Polish soldier.
On 14 March 2020, before 11:00 AM, another rocket attack took place at Camp Taji; over 25 107mm caliber rockets struck the coalition compound and the Iraqi Air defences installation, this time wounding five coalition soldiers and two Iraqi soldiers. Iraqi forces subsequently found seven Katyushka rocket launchers with 24 unlaunched rockets.

U.S. response

On 11 March, three warplanes targeted the area near the Syrian town of Al-Bukamal and Iraq's Al-Anbar province, which resulted in only material damage, with no casualties.
On 13 March after midnight, the U.S. launched air raids against Kata'ib Hezbollah facilities in Karbala International Airport, and other militia groups under the Popular Mobilization Forces in Babylon. The raids killed three Iraqi soldiers, two policemen and one civilian. 11 Iraqi soldiers were wounded as well as five PMF fighters.

Reactions

The Iraqi military and religious authorities condemned the strikes, and the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, summoned the U.S. and British ambassadors over the bombing and an emergency meeting was held to determine what actions will be taken in the future. The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said that the claim that the airstrike was in response to the initial attack on the base lead "to escalation and does not provide a solution". Also, the Iraqi authorities stated that the "new U.S. air attack went against 'any partnership'”. In addition, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Abbas Mousavi, said that the attacks are related to the U.S. "presence and behaviour" in Iraq.