UK confirms Royal Army Medical Corps member among 3 killed in rocket attack on Taji coalition base in Iraq

The UK Ministry of Defense has confirmed that a British serviceman – a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps – was killed in a barrage of rockets fired at a joint base in Iraq. Two American soldiers also perished in the attack.

“Last night’s attack on UK and coalition personnel was a cowardly and retrograde act,” UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement after the MOD announced the casualty early on Thursday morning. “The people that did this are not friends of Iraq.”

Some 18 projectiles were fired at Baghdad’s Camp Taji on Wednesday, a joint base housing US, British and other coalition forces used to train Iraqi troops. No groups have yet taken responsibility for the attack, in which 12 others were wounded, according to the coalition.

The two others killed in the rocket attack were American servicemen, according to US Central Command spokesman Captain William Urban.

Following the attack, “unidentified” warplanes reportedly flew sorties on militia positions in Iraq’s western Anbar province, as well as around the Syrian town of al-Bukamal near the Iraqi border, causing material damage but no known casualties.

Some press accounts suggested the US had launched the strikes in retaliation for the assault on Camp Taji, but officials have yet to confirm American involvement. Footage shared on social media purported to show the moment of the counterattack.

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