ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims it has killed more than a dozen “Americans” in drone and missile attacks targeting US bases in Iraq and across the region since the war involving Iran began nearly two weeks ago.
“Over the past 24 hours, the mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq carried out 31 operations using dozens of drones and missiles against occupation bases in Iraq and the region,” the group said on Telegram in the early hours of Wednesday.
“This brings the total number of operations over the past 12 days to 291, resulting in the deaths of 13 Americans and injuries to dozens more, some of them serious,” it added.
The attacks come amid an escalating regional conflict involving Iran, the United States, and Israel.
In response to the war, factions within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have repeatedly targeted US bases, though most of the projectiles have been intercepted by air defense systems.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week held a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, stressing that the Iraqi government must take “all possible measures” to protect American personnel and facilities across the country.
Rubio also strongly condemned what he described as “terrorist attacks” carried out by Iran and Iran-aligned armed groups operating in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
The Kurdistan Region has been targeted by over 200 drones and missiles in the first 10 days of the war, killing four people and wounding 19 others, according to Rudaw monitoring and data from a human rights organization operating in the region.
Seven US service members have been killed in the conflict with Iran that began on February 28. Most of the fatalities occurred in the early days of the war, including a drone strike on a U.S. facility in Kuwait.
No American civilians have been reported killed.