ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Drone attacks by Iran's affiliated armed groups against the US bases in Kurdistan Region have escalated over the past 24 hours despite tightened security measures by Iraqi forces, striking multiple provinces and causing both human casualties and material damage.
Several areas across Sulaimani, Erbil, and Duhok provinces were targeted from Thursday afternoon until late in the day, Rudaw has learned. Additionally, a drone crashed between Kirkuk and Sulaimani provinces.
In Erbil province, attacks continued throughout the evening. A drone targeted the old training facility of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) in the Koya district, near an old ammunition depot close to the Harmota citadel, with no damage being reported.
The headquarters of the organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle (Sazmani Khabat) in the Rizgari sub-district of Khabat was also attacked. Two Khabat Peshmerga members were wounded as a result of the attack, several sources told Rudaw.
The ongoing attacks come despite tightened security measures in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains and the deployment of additional army units to areas previously used to launch strikes on Erbil, a local official said Thursday. He predicted that these steps could significantly reduce future attacks.
Mohammed Jassim Kakai, head of the security and defense committee in the Nineveh Provincial Council, told Rudaw in an interview that Iraqi authorities have boosted intelligence operations and stationed more troops across the region following a series of missile and drone attacks targeting the Kurdistan Region’s capital. He said the measures could "reduce the attacks by 90 percent."
“We have conducted a large distribution of the Iraqi Army, and intelligence capabilities have been increased across all sectors,” Kakai said.