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Published 17:27 IST, January 13th 2020

US troops clear rubble from Iraq base days after Iran strike

U.S. troops were clearing rubble and debris on Monday from a military base housing American soldiers in western Iraq on Monday, days after it was struck by Iranian ballistic missiles.

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AIN AL-ASAD BASE, Iraq (AP) — U.S. troops were clearing rubble and debris on Monday from a military base housing American soldiers in western Iraq on Monday, days after it was struck by Iranian ballistic missiles.

The Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq’s western Anbar province is a sprawling complex about 180 kilometers (110 miles) west of Baghdad and houses about 1,500 members of the U.S. military and the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group.

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It was struck by a barrage of Iranian missiles on Wednesday, in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whose killing raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

An Associated Press crew touring the Ain al-Asad base Monday saw large craters in the ground and damaged military trailers as well as forklifts lifting rubble and loading it onto trucks from a large area the size of a football stadium.

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The U.S. said no American soldiers were killed or wounded in the Iranian attack.

Ain al-Asad air base was first used by American forces after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, and later saw American troops stationed there amid the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

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Trump visited the sprawling Ain al-Asad air base in December 2018, making his first presidential visit to troops in the region. Vice President Mike Pence also has visited the base.

(Image courtesy: AP)

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17:27 IST, January 13th 2020