ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A drone was intercepted over the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province early Saturday, as an Iraq pro-Iran armed group claimed responsibility for the attack amid ongoing strikes by Iran and its allied groups on positions they claim host US assets.
Rudaw’s reporter on the ground, Peshawa Bakhtiar, reported that a drone was destroyed in the city’s skies before it could reach its intended target. According to available information, the incident caused no casualties. According to preliminary information, gunfire was heard near a headquarter of local security forces.
Shortly after the incident, the Iraqi pro-Iran armed group Saraya Awliya al-Dam, one of the factions within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, issued a statement saying that its fighters “carried out an attack via an unmanned aerial vehicle and hit a sensitive target in Sulaimani."
Footage shows heavy gunfire as defenses intercept a projectile over the Kurdistan Region’s city of Sulaimani at dawn on Saturday.
The group said in its statement that the attack was carried out in retaliation for the killing of "Ali Khamenei" and also in response to strikes that caused the deaths of a number of Iraqi fighters.
Footage shows heavy gunfire as defenses intercept a projectile over the Kurdistan Region’s city of Sulaimani at dawn on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/tvTsxNaWPO