A base housing Polish troops in Iraq came under mortar fire overnight but there were no casualties or damage, the defence ministry said on Friday, adding that US special forces had tried but failed to capture the assailants. The ministry said a total of five mortar shells were fired in the early hours at a logistics base in the town of Hilla, near Baghdad, but all of them fell at the edge of the facility. âOur men were immediately evacuated to a shelter, while US special forces and gendarmes set off to chase the assailants,â said ministry spokesman Eugeniusz Mleczak. The assailants escaped however, he said.
The attack was the first reported against Polish troops in Iraq, where some 300 military personnel are working to prepare for the deployment of a multinational division under Polish command. |