Marina Pina Madrid
Madrid
Updated Saturday, January 20, 2024-18:35
More than a dozen missiles were launched on Saturday in Iraq against a military base where Spanish troops are stationed and which houses troops from the US and other countries of the international anti-jihadist coalition.
Defense sources have confirmed to
EL MUNDO
that there have been no injuries among the Spanish troops: "Our people are fine."
"The Al Asad base was the target of 15 rockets" fired from the province of Ambar, where this Iraqi military base is located, a regional police official told the AFP agency.
This source assured that 13 of the projectiles were shot down by the anti-aircraft defense, while "two fell at the air base."
For his part, a US defense official confirmed that several "missiles (...) hit the Al Asad air base", and assured that "an initial assessment of the damage" was being carried out.
According to "preliminary" information, "a member of the Iraqi security forces was seriously injured," he added.
The attacks, which have not yet been claimed, occurred in a context of great tensions in the region, fueled by the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel, an ally of the United States, and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, supported by Iran.
Since last September, the Al Asad air base has hosted the Spanish
'Task Force Toro'
, which provides air transport to the Coalition forces and the NATO mission.
In his statement to the troops during his visit to Iraq, on December 28,
Pedro Sánchez
specifically referred to the soldiers of the 'Task Force Toro' after their transfer to their new base, attacked this Saturday: "We are very aware of the situation at your base, the risks you assume in the fulfillment of your mission and I ask you, obviously, to take even greater measures, I know you do, the security measures and I hope that the new facilities, where you now carry out your work , have contributed to improving your living conditions and the performance of assigned tasks.