BAGHDAD, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- A roadside bomb struck a convoy of trucks carrying logistical equipment belonging to the U.S.-led coalition forces near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Iraqi military said Friday.
The blast took place in Aweirij, an area located on the southern edge of Baghdad, and resulted in the burning of one of the convoy trucks and the killing of its driver, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a brief statement.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but unidentified militant groups have frequently targeted civilian convoys contracted with the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, which usually travel from neighboring Kuwait to the coalition bases in central and northern Iraq.
The attacks came as the Iraqi-U.S. relations have witnessed a tension since Jan. 3 when a U.S. drone struck a convoy at Baghdad airport, which killed Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.
More than 5,000 U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the Islamic State militants, mainly providing training and advising to the Iraqi forces.
The troops were part of the U.S.-led coalition that has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria. Enditem
