Iran has launched missile strikes aimed at US troops in Iraq in what it said was retaliation for the killing last week of the top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani.

The Pentagon confirmed that al-Asad airbase in Iraq’s Anbar province, and Erbil base in northern Iraq, which both host a US contingent, had been hit by a salvo of more than a dozen missiles launched from Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, of which Suleimani was a member, issued a statement saying: “The brave soldiers of IRGC’s aerospace unit have launched a successful attack with tens of ballistic missiles on Al Assad military base in the name of martyr General Qassem Suleimani”.

Iranian news sites showed video footage of missiles being launched into the night sky.