The Iraqi air force has received air-to-ground Hellfire missiles from the United States as aid in the ongoing campaign against the al-Qaida branch in the Middle Eastern country, officials from both countries said Thursday.
Iraqi intelligence officials say the country welcomed 75 Hellfires, which are being used by their King Air propeller planes near the shared border with Syria where four militant camps were destroyed.
The officials say the U.S. promised to send more of the missiles.
State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki confirmed the shipment and said they were also planning to send drones to Iraq, citing the Strategic Framework Agreement and the U.S. commitment to fight terrorism.
"The recent delivery of Hellfire missiles and an upcoming delivery of ScanEagles are standard foreign military sales cases that we have with Iraq to strengthen their capabilities to combat this threat," she said.
Hellfire missiles are used extensively by U.S. military forces against al-Qaida, which is believed to have used the conflict in Syria to rebuild its Iraqi branch with seasoned fighters that regularly cross the border.
Iraqi military operations employing the missiles in the desert province of Anbar followed the killing of two ranking military officers and five soldiers in a surprise attack.
An attack on Camp Liberty near Baghdad Airport on Thursday involved members of an Iranian opposition group that conflicts with the Baghdad government.
The group opposes the clerical government in Iran, and faces hostility from Baghdad, whose Shiite-led government has recently strengthened ties with Tehran.
Conflicting accounts from a Paris-based Iranian opposition group and Iraqi security forces say at most two people were killed and two more were injured in the attack, suspected to be masterminded by al-Quaida.
Psaki said the U.S. strongly condemns the attack and called on the government in Baghdad to ensure the security of the camp and the neighboring airfield.
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