US outraged by Erbil rocket attack

Kurdistan 09:32 AM - 2021-04-15

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US expressed anger and concern over last night's attack on Erbil, which was carried out by a drone on the coalition base.

 

"Outraged by reports of attacks in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. The Iraqi people have suffered for far too long from this kind of violence and violation of their sovereignty," said Ned Price, spokesman for the United States Department of State.

 

An attack Wednesday on an airport in Arbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, was carried out by a drone, the Kurdish interior ministry said, in an unprecedented escalation of the arms used to target US soldiers based there.

 

A drone charged with TNT targeted a coalition base at Erbil's airport without causing casualities but a building was damaged.

 

On Thursday, The Iraqi PM Mustafa Al-Kadhimi directed an immediate investigation into the attack that targeted Erbil International Airport yesterday evening.

 

Major General Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for the PM, said that Al-Kadhimi directed "an immediate investigation into the attacks that occurred in Erbil and other regions," stressing that "the security of Iraq is the responsibility of the government and the Iraqi security forces with all their formations, and that this type of terrorist acts aims to  destabilize security during the holy month of Ramadan. "

 

A Turkish soldier was killed by rocket fire at around the same time of the Erbil attack at a military base 50 kilometres east in Bashiqa, Ankara said, but there was no immediate confirmation of any link between the two attacks.

 

Turkey has maintained a military presence around Bashiqa, despite calls from Baghdad to leave.

 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the airport drone attack, which caused an explosion heard across Erbil. But a shadowy group calling itself Awliyaa al-Dam (Guardians of Blood), which claimed responsibility for a similar attack at the airport in February, hailed the blast in pro-Tehran channels on the messaging app Telegram.

 

A security cordon blocked all access to the airport, witnesses reported. The governor said air links were not interrupted.

 

Some 20 bomb or rocket attacks have targeted bases housing American soldiers or diplomats in Iraq since US President Joe Biden took office at the end of January.

 

Dozens more took place over the preceding 18 months, with Washington consistently blaming pro-Iran factions.

 

Washington and Tehran are both allies of Baghdad, but remain sharply at odds over Iran's nuclear program.

 

On February 15, more than a dozen rockets targeted a military complex inside Erbil airport, killing an Iraqi civilian and a foreign contractor working with US-led troops.

 

The complex hosts foreign troops deployed as part of a US-led coalition helping Iraq fight the so-called Islamic State group, a conflict that Baghdad declared as won in late 2017.

 

Earlier Wednesday, two bombs also exploded on roads where Iraqi logistics convoys were carrying equipment for the international coalition in the southern provinces of Dhi Qar and Diwaniyah, according to security sources.

 

The United States last week committed to move all remaining combat forces from Iraq, although the two countries did not set a timeline for what would be the second withdrawal since the 2003 invasion.

 

The announcement came as the Biden administration resumed a "strategic dialogue" with the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who is seen as too close to Washington by Iraq's powerful pro-Iranian factions.

 

 

 

PUKmedia