U.S.: Rocket fired at Baghdad base Iranian

BAGHDAD, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- A rocket that hit the U.S. base at the Baghdad airport was sent to Shiites in Iraq by Iran, a military spokesman said Thursday.

Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters that the rocket was fired from a Baghdad neighborhood controlled by the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, Voice of America reported. The attack Tuesday killed one person and wounded 11 at Camp Victory, the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq.

"The attack used a 240-millimeter rocket, which is a weapon that these groups have received from Iranian sources in the past and recently used in other attacks against coalition forces," Bergner said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies that his country is arming Iraqi militia groups. But Gen. David Petraeus, in Washington this week to testify before Congress, said Wednesday that the military has evidence of Iranian interference in Iraq.

Bergner said that fragments of Tuesday’s rocket have markings that appear to bear out its Iranian origin.