Missile strike targets US military base near Erbil airport

SANAA, Feb.16 (YPA) -A rocket attack in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Monday killed a civilian contractor with the American-led military coalition and wounded six others, including a US service member, said a US-led coalition spokesman.

Several other rockets landed in residential areas of the city, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including one close to the Chinese Consulate.

Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Iraq, said, “There was one civilian contractor killed, five civilian contractors injured and one US service member injured” in the Monday night “indirect fire”.

Former Iraqi prime minister and senior Kurdish official Hoshyar Zebari said “five Katyusha rockets” hit the city of Erbil and some diplomatic facilities and residential areas.

The airport was reportedly shut down and flights were halted for safety issues.

E.M