Rockets hit outside an airport in Iraq where U.S. forces are based late, killing one U.S. led coalition contractor and injuring eight others.

At least three rockets were struck between the between the civilian Irbil international airport in the semi-autonomous Kurdish-run region and the nearby base hosting U.S. troops at 9.30 p.m., Associated Press reported.

The rockets were launched from an area south of Irbil near the border with Kirkuk province and fell on some residential areas close to the airport, it added.

A little-known Shiite militant group calling itself the Guardians of Blood Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack. It claimed firing 24 rockets that avoided the airport's defenses, specifically naming an automatic machine gun known as a C-RAM that protects American installations in Iraq, the report added. The attack is the first in five months.