Illustrative image.
An unidentified drone crashed on July 28 near Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan , resulting in no casualties, Kurdish counterterrorism forces reported.
“On Monday morning at 05:50, an explosive-laden drone crashed in the Rizgari subdistrict of Khabat district in Erbil province,” said the Directorate General of Counter Terrorism.
Khabat is the site of the Kawergosk oil refinery, one of the largest in Kurdistan, operated by the Iraqi-Kurdish oil company KAR Group.
Earlier, Shafaq News reported that two drones, not just one, had crashed in Kurdistan, one in Rizgari and another in the village of Korgosk. The news website also said that a third drone crashed in the village of Hihewa in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk, prompting a security investigation. No casualties were reported.
Videos posted to social networks showed the wreckage of two drones, both appeared to be copies of an Iranian suicide drone codenamed by the United States military and intelligence as KAS-04.
Kurdistan came under nearly 20 rocket and drone attacks in recent weeks, including strikes on its oil fields. The Kurdish government has blamed Iran-aligned Iraqi armed factions for the attacks. However, these charges were strongly denied as “unacceptable” by Baghdad.
The United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations, as well as several other international and local actors, have condemned the attacks, which have greatly reduced Kurdistan’s oil output,
Baghdad has launched an investigation but has yet to announce the results. An extraordinary Iraqi parliament session held last week failed to discuss the matter after Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the sitting.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
