The US military launched air strikes against a pro-Iranian group in Iraq following the deaths of two Americans and a Briton in a rocket attack, US military officials told AFP on Thursday.

The operation targeted five weapons facilities of the Kataeb Hezbollah armed faction across Iraq, the Pentagon said in a statement.

"These weapons storage facilities include facilities that housed weapons used to target US and coalition troops," the statement said.

The strikes were "defensive, proportional, and in direct response to the threat posed by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups who continue to attack bases" hosting troops that are part of the international coalition fighting Islamic State jihadists.

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said the United States "will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests, or our allies."

"As we have demonstrated in recent months, we will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region," he said in a statement.

Esper had earlier warned that "all options are on the table" to respond to the death of the three soldiers in a barrage of about 18 rockets on the Taji air base on Wednesday.

Troops from the United States and other countries in the Operation Inherent Resolve coalition reside at the base, and have been targets of previous rocket attacks attributed to Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia.

Wednesday's attack on the Taji air base was the 22nd on US installations in Iraq, including the American embassy, since late October.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, Washington has blamed Iran-backed factions from the Hashed al-Shaabi network, a state-sponsored umbrella group that includes Kataeb Hezbollah, for recent similar violence.

Fourteen others were wounded in the attack Wednesday, including Americans, Brits, and Poles.

- US operation -

One US official told AFP that the targets on Thursday were logistics nodes and drone storage units.

"The strikes began at 1:00 am (2200 GMT Thursday) local time, using various kinds of aircraft," the official said, adding that it was specifically a US operation, and not carried out by the coalition.

An Iraqi security source told AFP that five heavy missiles hit the Jurf al-Sakhr area south of Baghdad, which is controlled by Kataeb Hezbollah.

The explosions shook nearby homes and Iraqi military forces there were placed on alert, the Iraqi source said.

Wednesday's rocket attack had sparked fears of a fresh escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran.

The two sides came close to war in January after a series of tit-for-tat strikes that began with the death in December of a US contractor.

Two days later, the US responded by bombing Kataeb Hezbollah, killing at least 25 of their fighters.

The group then stormed the US embassy in Baghdad, causing light damage but enraging the Trump administration.

On January 3 Washington retaliated by killing Iran's powerful military commander Qasem Soleimani -- whom the US says has orchestrated the rocket attacks -- and the Hashed's deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike.

Iran then answered back with a volley of missiles at the western Iraqi base of Ain Al-Asad. While no personnel were killed in that attack, dozens of US soldiers suffered brain trauma.

The violence on Iraqi soil left Baghdad furious, and in January its parliament voted to expel all foreign soldiers from Iraq in reaction to the killing of Soleimani.

Among them are some 5,200 US forces stationed across Iraq as part of the international coalition -- comprised of dozens of countries -- formed in 2014 to confront the Islamic State jihadist group, which took swaths of territory that year.

Pentagon warns 'all options on the table' after Americans killed in Iraq
Washington (AFP) March 12, 2020 - US Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned Thursday that "all options are on the table" after three US-led coalition members, including two American soldiers, were killed in a rocket attack in Iraq.

Iraqi and UN officials were scrambling meanwhile to contain the fallout from the strike on Taji air base, which threatened yet another escalation of Iran-US tensions.

Within hours of the attack on the base north of Baghdad -- the deadliest in years on a facility used by US forces in Iraq -- an air strike killed more than two dozen Iran-aligned fighters in neighboring Syria.

It marked a dramatic uptick in violence less than three months after rockets killed a US contractor in northern Iraq, unleashing a round of tit-for-tat attacks between the United States and Iran on Iraqi soil.

In Washington, Esper blamed the attack on Iranian-backed Shia militia groups and told reporters President Donald Trump had given him "the authority to do what we need to do."

"We have pretty good confidence we know who did this," he said, insisting they were "clearly targeting coalition and partner forces on Camp Taji."

"Let me be clear, the United States will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests or our allies," the Pentagon chief said.

"All options are on the table as we work with our partners to bring the perpetrators to justice and maintain deterrence," Esper said. "As we demonstrated in recent months, we will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region."

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 30 rockets were fired, 18 of which hit the base.

Two US servicemen and one British soldier were killed while another 14 coalition members were injured, five of whom were in serious condition, Milley said.

- 'Serious security challenge' -

Fearing a bloody flare-up, Iraqi officials and the United Nations were quick to condemn the coalition deaths.

Iraq's military command said it was "a serious security challenge" and pledged to open an investigation.

President Barham Saleh and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbussi condemned a "terrorist attack" which targeted "Iraq and its security."

The UN mission in Iraq called for "maximum restraint on all sides."

"These ongoing attacks are a clear and substantial threat to the country, and the risk of rogue action by armed groups remains a constant concern," it said. "The last thing Iraq needs is to serve as an arena for vendettas and external battles."

Wednesday's attack on the Taji base, one of about a dozen facilities across Iraq where coalition forces are posted, was the 22nd on US interests in Iraq since late October.

Kataeb Hezbollah, a hardline faction within Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance, hailed the attack and its perpetrators, without saying they were behind it.

"We believe it is the best time for popular, nationalist forces to resume operations to oust the evil attackers," the group said in a statement.

Kataeb Hezbollah also criticized "those who were quick to denounce and express their sympathy," in a hint at top Iraqi officials who had condemned the rocket attack.

In late December, the United States accused Kataeb Hezbollah of killing an American contractor at a base in northern Iraq and carried out air strikes on western Iraq that killed 25 of its fighters.

Days later, a US drone strike killed senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Hashed deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis near Baghdad airport.

Iran then launched its own strikes on a western Iraqi base, leaving dozens of US troops suffering from brain trauma.

Hashed factions have repeatedly pledged to avenge Muhandis's death in their own way.

- Hashed hammered in Syria -

Within hours of Wednesday's attack, an air strike near the Syrian-Iraqi border town of Albu Kamal killed 26 Iran-aligned Iraqi fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The US-led coalition denied carrying out any raids overnight on either Syria or Iraq.

Both the coalition and Israel have targeted Iran-backed fighters in Syria, whom they fear could be transferring missiles from their regional foe Iran.

Post-Saddam Iraq counts years of close ties with both Iran and the United States, and Baghdad has been put in an increasingly difficult position by the spiralling tensions between its allies.

In January, Iraqi lawmakers voted to oust all foreign troops from Iraq in reaction to the killing of Soleimani and Muhandis.

Some 5,200 US troops are stationed in Iraq as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State jihadist group.

While IS has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, sleeper cells remain capable of carrying out attacks on both sides of the border.

On Sunday, two US soldiers were killed north of Baghdad while helping Iraqi forces battle IS remnants.

US officials have previously told AFP they consider the Hashed a bigger threat than IS, given the frequency and accuracy of rocket attacks on US troops that could be traced back to the paramilitaries.

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