The 2020 Camp Taji attacks were rocket attacks that took place on 11 March and 14 March 2020, targeting

Camp Taji Camp Taji , also known as Camp Cooke, is a military installation used by Iraqi and Coalition forces near Taji, Baghdad Governorate, Iraq. The camp is located in a rural region approximately north of the capital Baghdad. Saddam era Al-Taji air ...

, north of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

, in

Baghdad Governorate Baghdad Governorate ( ar, محافظة بغداد ''Muḥāfaẓät Baġdād''), also known as the Baghdad Province, is the capital governorate of Iraq. It includes the capital Baghdad as well as the surrounding metropolitan area. The governorat ...

, which hosts Coalition and United States Forces in Iraq (

Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) is a multinational military formation established by the U.S.-led international coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with the stated aim to "d ...

Attacks

On 11 March 2020, 29 rockets landed on

, killing two Americans and one British soldier from the Royal Army Medical Corps who was attached to the

Irish Guards ("Who Shall Separate s") , colors = , identification_symbol_2 Saffron (pipes), identification_symbol_2_label = Tartan , identification_symbol = , identification_symbol_label = Tactical Recognition F ...

. 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 Type 63 Chinese rockets struck the coalition compound and the Iraqi Air defenses facilities, and three other coalition soldiers and two Iraqi soldiers. Iraqi forces subsequently found seven multiple rocket launchers with 24 unlaunched rockets.

U.S. response

On 11 March, three warplanes targeted the area near the Syrian town of

Al-Bukamal Abu Kamal ( ar, أَبُو كَمَال, ʾAbū Kamāl) or Al-Bukamal ( ar, ٱلْبُوكَمَال, al-Būkamāl) is a city on the Euphrates river in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate of eastern Syria near the border with Iraq. It is the administrati ...

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 Kata'ib Hezbollah ( ar, كتائب حزب الله, lit=Battalions of the Party of God)—or the Hezbollah Battalions—is a radical Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group which is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces backed by Iran. During the Ir ...

facilities in Karbala, and other militia groups under the

Popular Mobilization Forces The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) ( ar, الحشد الشعبي ''al-Ḥashd ash-Shaʿbī''), also known as the People's Mobilization Committee (PMC) and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization ...

(PMF) 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 to response

The Iraqi military and religious authorities condemned the strikes undertaken by the US and UK in response to the attacks, 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". 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.

References

{{Trump presidency March 2020 events in Iraq March 2020 crimes in Asia 2020 crimes in Iraq 2020 murders in Iraq Attacks in Iraq in 2020 Attacks on buildings and structures in Iraq Attacks on buildings and structures in 2020 Attacks on military installations in the 2020s History of Baghdad Governorate Iran–Iraq military relations Iran–United States relations Iraq–United States relations Presidency of Donald Trump