US Military Base in Iraq Hit by Rocket Attack http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9002041304 

A US military base in Iraq's Southern city of Diwaniyah came under rocket attack, Iraqi sources announced on Sunday.Three Katyusha shells targeted a US base West of Diwaniyah, provincial capital city of Iraq's Qadisiyyah, late last night. The scale of the possible damage and the number of casualties are still unknown.  A police source in Diwaniyah said that a column of smoke was seen from the base after the attack and US choppers started searching for the elements behind the attack soon afterwards. 

In August 2010, the United States declared an end to its combat mandate in Iraq but left 50,000 of American troops in the country for what it called "advising and training" purposes. The US forces, however, are expected to fully withdraw from the Iraqi soil by the end of 2011 despite a recent plea by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for the further extension of their troop's deployment in the war-torn country. 

Meantime, senior Iraqi Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Kazzem al-Hosseini al-Haeri condemned the attempts made by Washington to prolong its military deployment in Iraq, and issued a Fatwa (religious decree) against the presence of the US forces in the country after the end of 2011. "The extended mission of the infidel occupiers in Iraq even for one single day after the mentioned date (as cited in the security agreement) is haram (religiously forbidden)," he stated.