ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - President Masoud Barzani's office on Thursday condemned the latest attack on Kurdistan Region’s strategic gas field, calling for “serious” measures to be taken to prevent such assaults against the Region in the future.
“This attack is against the economic infrastructure and interests of the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, and all citizens,” said the office of President Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), in a statement.
He complained that reactions to such attacks have been limited to statements of condemnation. President Barzani called for action.
“The time has come to take serious and practical steps against these aggressions and unjust attacks, to put an end to them, and to punish those responsible,” added the statement.
The Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas fields have come under rocket and drone attacks dozens of times in recent years. Kurdish officials have blamed “terrorist” groups for the assaults, referring to Iraq’s militia factions that operate independently and do not answer to the federal government despite their formal integration into the state apparatus.
Aziz Ahmad, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Kurdistan Region’s Prime Minister, on Thursday blamed Iraqi “usual terrorists on the federal government’s payroll” for the latest attack.
Replying to a post on X by Mark Savaya, US Special Envoy to Iraq, on Thursday, KDP’s foreign relations office said the Trump administration must make sure that the armed groups that attack Kurdistan Region are not paid or armed by Baghdad.
“The international community should suspend relations with any future Iraqi government that integrates militias into state structures. Arms should be under exclusive state control, and measures must be taken to prevent militias from exploiting Iraq’s financial and economic resources to perpetrate violence or damage infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region,” it said.