<p>A rocket slammed into an Iraqi base where American troops are stationed in the remote province of Kirkuk, Iraqi and US security sources told AFP on Thursday night.</p>.<p>There were no immediate reports of casualties.</p>.<p>According to three separate Iraqi security sources, the Katyusha rocket hit the K1 base at around 8:45 pm local time (1745 GMT) and US military aircraft immediately began flying low over the area.</p>.<p>It was the first attack on the base since December 27, when a volley of around 30 rockets killed a US contractor there and unleashed a dramatic escalation.</p>.<p>Washington blamed the rockets on Kataeb Hezbollah, a hardline Iraqi military faction close to Iran, and conducted retaliatory strikes that killed 25 of the group's fighters.</p>.<p>Supporters of the group then surrounded the US embassy in Baghdad, breaking through its outer perimeter in an unprecedented breach on the mission.</p>.<p>Days later, a US drone strike at Baghdad airport killed Iran's point man on Iraqi affairs Qasem Soleimani and his right-hand man, Kataeb Hezbollah co-founder Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.</p>.<p>In outrage, Iraq's parliament voted to oust all foreign forces from the country, including around 5,200 US troops deployed to help local forces beat back remnants of the Islamic State group.</p>.<p>Those troops, as well as the US embassy in Baghdad, have faced nearly 20 rocket attacks over the past four months.</p>.<p>The most significant was Iran's response to Soleimani's killing, when Tehran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at the sprawling Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq on January 8.</p>.<p>The troops had prior warning and none were killed, but more than 100 have since been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury.</p>
<p>A rocket slammed into an Iraqi base where American troops are stationed in the remote province of Kirkuk, Iraqi and US security sources told AFP on Thursday night.</p>.<p>There were no immediate reports of casualties.</p>.<p>According to three separate Iraqi security sources, the Katyusha rocket hit the K1 base at around 8:45 pm local time (1745 GMT) and US military aircraft immediately began flying low over the area.</p>.<p>It was the first attack on the base since December 27, when a volley of around 30 rockets killed a US contractor there and unleashed a dramatic escalation.</p>.<p>Washington blamed the rockets on Kataeb Hezbollah, a hardline Iraqi military faction close to Iran, and conducted retaliatory strikes that killed 25 of the group's fighters.</p>.<p>Supporters of the group then surrounded the US embassy in Baghdad, breaking through its outer perimeter in an unprecedented breach on the mission.</p>.<p>Days later, a US drone strike at Baghdad airport killed Iran's point man on Iraqi affairs Qasem Soleimani and his right-hand man, Kataeb Hezbollah co-founder Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.</p>.<p>In outrage, Iraq's parliament voted to oust all foreign forces from the country, including around 5,200 US troops deployed to help local forces beat back remnants of the Islamic State group.</p>.<p>Those troops, as well as the US embassy in Baghdad, have faced nearly 20 rocket attacks over the past four months.</p>.<p>The most significant was Iran's response to Soleimani's killing, when Tehran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at the sprawling Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq on January 8.</p>.<p>The troops had prior warning and none were killed, but more than 100 have since been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury.</p>