It is too early to say whether Iran directed the attack, the person said, but previous attacks by militia groups on the US and coalition forces in Iraq are linked to Tehran.
A total of five Americans were injured in the attack: four civilian contractors and one service member, according to two defense officials. In addition, one non-US contractor was killed and two non-US contractors were injured.
At least two civilians were also injured and property damage was done to cars and other property, security officials said without providing further details. A statement from Kurdistan’s Interior Ministry said a number of people had been injured in a preliminary investigation. The rockets were launched from an area south of Irbil near the border with Kirkuk province and fell on some residential areas near the airport.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the regulations.
Iraqi President Barham Saleh condemned the attack and said in a statement that it was a “dangerous escalation”.
Kurdish authorities are warning Irbil residents to stay away from targeted areas and stay in their homes, according to a Interior Ministry statement.
Attacks on Irbil airport are rare. Monday’s attack was the first to hit the area in five months.
On September 30, when six rockets hit near the airport. Kurdish authorities said they were launched from a pickup truck in the nearby town of Bartella in Ninevah province, which falls under federal government control. Kurdish authorities blamed the Shiite militia groups.
Hoshiyar Zebari, a member of the Politburo of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, said security officials were investigating the source of the attack. “There will be consequences for the culprits. “This aggression will not stop,” he tweeted.
Rocket attacks were frequent on the U.S. presence in Baghdad, including the U.S. embassy, as well as convoys transporting supplies to the U.S. coalition.
The attack regularly subsided at the end of last year before Biden’s inauguration. The U.S. under the previous Trump administration blamed Iran-backed groups for carrying out the attacks. Tensions have risen following a Washington-led drone strike that killed top Iranian General Qassim Soleimani and powerful Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis last year.
Trump said the death of a U.S. contractor would be a red line and cause U.S. escalation in Iraq. The assassination of a U.S. civilian contractor in December 2019 in a rocket attack in Kirkuk sparked a fight against Iraq that brought the country to the brink of a proxy war.
US forces in Iraq have been significantly reduced to 2,500 personnel and no longer participate in combat missions with Iraqi forces in ongoing operations against the Islamic State group.
Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.