WASHINGTON — The 320 U.S. soldiers and Marines at Al Asad air base in western Iraq have been coming under "regular" mortar fire from insurgent forces for several weeks, Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reportersMonday.
While Warren insisted that the attacks have been "wholly ineffective" and "no U.S. personnel, no U.S. equipment have been impacted in any way," this was the first time that the Pentagon acknowledged that the 2,100 U.S. troops in Iraq have been in danger since deploying late last year.
In addition to the Marines from a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force training units with the Iraqi Army's 7th Division at Al Asad, there are another 170 U.S. soldiers from the Army's 1st Infantry Division training another four Iraqi Army battalions near Taji, which is just northwest of Baghdad.
Both sites were major U.S. bases during the American war there from 2003-2011.
Warren added that the US is currently establishing two other sites to train a total of nine Iraqi and three Kurdish battalions in Irbil in the Kurdish-controlled north and Besmaya, which is just south of Baghdad.
The Besmaya Combat Training Center was transferred to the Iraqi Army in July 2011, and was intended for use as a training site for Iraqi Army-purchased M1A1 Abrams tanks.
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