'US military base attacked in Iraq'

A view of Basra International Airport (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/215742.html

Unknown gunmen have attacked a US military base in the southern Iraq city of Basra with several mortar shells, military sources say.

Possible casualties or damages are yet to be reported.

The outpost is located in Basra International Airport, the second largest international airport in Iraq.

On Wednesday, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of the western Iraq city of Fallujah to celebrate the expected yearend withdrawal of the US troops from the country's soil.

Also on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama marked the end of the eight-year-long US-led military invasion and occupation of Iraq.

There are currently some 5,500 US troops left in Iraq, down from more than 170,000 at the height of the war started by Obama's predecessor George W. Bush. In line with a bilateral security accord, all the forces are expected to leave Iraq by the end of the year.

Obama claimed that the final preparations for the pullout had been made and that the remaining troops were expected to withdraw in the coming days.

More than one million Iraqis have been killed in the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation, according to the California-based investigative organization Project Censored