Attacks targeting Irbil airport are rare, with Monday’s rockets the first to strike the area in five months.
Rockets struck outside an airport near where U.S. forces are based in northern Iraq late on Monday, killing one U.S.-led coalition contractor and wounding at least eight other people, Iraqi security and coalition officials said, sparking fears of new hostilities.
At least three rockets hit areas between the civilian Irbil international airport in the semi-autonomous Kurdish-run region and the nearby base hosting U.S. troops at 9.30 p.m. No one immediately claimed responsibility.
One civilian contractor with the coalition was killed and five others wounded, coalition spokesman U.S. Army Col. Wayne Marotto said. One U.S. service member was wounded, he said. He did not reveal the nationality of the dead contractor and said this was under investigation.
At least two civilians were also wounded and the rockets damaged cars and other property, security officials said, without…