WASHINGTON — The United States is supporting the ongoing investigation into a series of rocket strikes in Iraq that left at least one person dead and an unspecified number of other civilians injured late Monday night, officials confirmed Tuesday. 

What You Need To Know

  • The United States is investigating Monday's deadly rocket strike in Iraq that left at least one person dead, officials said Tuesday

  • A civilian contractor who was not a U.S. citizen was killed; a U.S. military service member and eight civilian contractors were wounded in the assault

  • Any talk of retaliation at this time would be "premature,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said 

  • A little-known Shiite militant group calling itself Saraya Awliya al-Dam, Arabic for Guardians of Blood Brigade, has claimed responsibility for the attack

More than a dozen rockets hit late Monday in areas between the civilian international airport in the city of Irbil in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish-run region and the nearby base hosting U.S. troops.

U.S. Army Col. Wayne Marotto said Tuesday a civilian contractor with the coalition who was not a U.S. citizen was killed; a U.S. military service member and eight civilian contractors were wounded in the assault. An unspecified number of Iraqi and Kurdish civilians were wounded as rockets hit busy residential areas close to the airport.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the United States is “outraged” by the attack and will "respond in a time and place of our choosing,” but stressed that the investigation is still in its early stages. 

“We are not going to get ahead of the investigation that is very much underway,” Price said at a press briefing Tuesday afternoon. “We take it incredibly seriously. We are supporting our Iraqi partners as they investigate these attacks, whether they were conducted by Iran, whether they were conducted by Iranian-backed militia forces, or elements of such forces, we’re not going to prejudge that."

The administration will continue to maintain close contact with Kurdish and Iraqi officials as they try to determine who was responsible for the strikes. Any talk of retaliation at this time would be "premature," Price added. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said U.S. officials were working with Iraq to determine exactly who was responsible, adding that "we are outraged" by the attack.

A little-known Shiite militant group calling itself Saraya Awliya al-Dam, Arabic for Guardians of Blood Brigade, has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group did not provide evidence to back its claim, but allegedly said it targeted the “American occupation” within Iraq, per a report from Reuters. 

The attack has heightened tensions in the region between U.S. forces and its Kurdish and Iraqi allies, and Iran-backed Shiite militia groups.

Iran has denied any links to Saraya Awliya al-Dam, and rejected any accusations against the country over Monday’s incident. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said that “suspicious attempts to attribute it (the incident) to Iran are also strongly condemned.”

The Trump administration had said that the death of a U.S. contractor would be a red line and provoke a U.S. escalation in Iraq against Iran-backed groups. The December 2019 killing of a U.S. civilian contractor in a rocket attack in province of Kirkuk sparked a tit-for-tat fight on Iraqi soil that brought the country to the brink of a proxy war. The official position of President Joe Biden is not yet clear.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said the U.S. was pledging its support for investigating the attack and holding accountable those who were responsible; Blinken spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Tuesday following the attack.

Coalition forces based close to the Baghdad airport have been a frequent target for rocket attacks, but Monday’s strike marked the first since September to target Irbil’s airport. 

The attacks drew condemnation from senior Iraqi, U.S. and other Western officials.

U.N. Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert deplored the deadly assault and called for national unity.

"Such heinous, reckless acts pose grave threats to stability. Iraq must be shielded from (external) rivalries," she said in comments posted on Twitter. "We call for restraint and for close Baghdad-Erbil collaboration to bring culprits to justice."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.