On Monday evening, an explosion was reported at Iraq and Kuwait’s Jraischan border crossing in what was an alleged targeted attack on a convoy carrying military equipment for United States forces. According to three Iraqi force members who spoke to Reuters, it was not yet confirmed whether any American troops were in the convoy or if there were any injuries caused by the blast, which occurred just shy of 9 PM.
US Army Maj. John Rigsbee, a Central Command spokesman, said on Tuesday that the American military has begun investigating a militancy claim by a new Iraqi Shi’ite militant group. According to SITE Intelligence Group, the militia group called Ashab Al-Kahf claimed responsibility for the attack in a published video apparently showing the explosion from a distance. Members from the group said that they were able to destroy “equipment and vehicles belonging to the American enemy” as well as a significant part of the border crossing just south of Basra. The 11-second clip, which shows an out-of-focus video and features a man speaking in Arabic, has not yet been verified by the Associated Press.
SITE has referred to Ashab al-Kahf—which translates to ‘Companions of the Cave’—as “reportedly an Iranian proxy unit”. The outfit emerged in light of growing anger among Shi’ite militia after the American drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad and Tehran’s retaliatory ballistic missile attack on an American military base in Iraq. The Washington Post reports that the militant group previously threatened US forces in April and has also claimed responsibility for a convoy attack that took place in July in Salaheddin. On 9 August, another targeted convoy explosion in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar governorate was also reported to have caused minor damage.
At the same time, Iraq has denied that the incident on Monday had even occurred. Further, Kuwait’s Armed Forces took to Twitter to deny the attack on its northern border, assuring people that its outpost at the border was stable and secure.
تنفي رئاسة الأركان العامة للجيش مايتم تداوله عبر وسائل الإعلام المختلفة حول تعرض أحد المراكز لهجوم تخريبي على الحدود الكويتية الشمالية وتؤكد بأن الحدود مستقرة وآمنة. pic.twitter.com/D91NG7CXXG
— KUWAIT ARMED FORCES-الجيش الكويتي (@KuwaitArmyGHQ) August 10, 2020
The US Embassy in Kuwait, however, has said that it will be looking into the matter.
According to sources, vehicles at the crossing are loaded regularly with military equipment, with the cargo being unloaded or loaded either before or after they enter or exit Iraqi territory. For US troops, foreign companies are hired on a contractual basis to provide security in the region. Earlier, a security source said that the explosion was caused by militia targeting an American military base in the area by apparently smuggling an explosive, injuring some staff on the base. Later, other sources contradicted this story and confirmed that it was the convoy that had been attacked and not the base.
Kuwait has been a committed American ally since the 1991 Gulf War that expelled occupying Iraqi forces led by Saddam Hussein. Currently, Kuwait hosts 13,500 US troops, mainly at Camp Arifjan. Since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Hussein and the ongoing fight against the Islamic State, American contractors and security forces have often traveled with equipment by road between the two countries. In the past year, there have been several calls in Iraq for the US to withdraw its troops from the region.