ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s defense ministry said Sunday that its forces foiled an attempted “Katyusha rocket attack” in Kirkuk, seizing several rockets and their launchers before they could be used, with no casualties reported. The incident comes amid a recent surge in attacks targeting the Iraqi army and Iran-aligned Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Kirkuk and Iraq’s western Anbar province.
In a statement, the ministry said a unit from the Iraqi army’s “11th Infantry Division, under Kirkuk Operations Command, successfully thwarted an attempted Katyusha rocket launch on Sunday,” seizing “a platform that included two launch bases and four rockets ready for immediate firing.”
The ministry noted that the operation was “carried out based on precise intelligence,” adding that the site of the attempted attack was cordoned off and all discovered weapons were “confiscated without any casualties or damage.”
For its part, Kirkuk Operations Command said the operation was “part of ongoing efforts by Iraqi armed forces to pursue terrorist elements and foil their sabotage plans,” reaffirming the “utmost readiness and constant vigilance of security forces in ensuring the safety and stability of citizens.”
A day earlier, the PMF reported that three of its fighters were killed and four others wounded in what it described as a “treacherous Zionist-US attack” near Kirkuk International Airport.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi army said on Thursday that it shot down an unidentified low-flying drone in the village of al-Fakhira, under Kirkuk Operations Command at around 11:00 am local time, with no casualties reported.
The statement came shortly after a separate drone attack targeted an Iraqi army position in Rutba district, western Anbar province near the Syrian border, earlier the same day.
Rutba mayor Imad al-Dulaimi told Rudaw that “at 2:00 am local time, a drone attack targeted the Iraqi army’s 79th Brigade,” but caused no casualties. He added that the targeted site was a drone-launching base about 90 kilometers from Rutba’s center.
The surge in drone attacks followed a shelling incident on Wednesday at a military medical center in Habbaniyah, Anbar, which killed seven Iraqi soldiers and injured nearly two dozen others.
The Iraqi government condemned the Habbaniyah attack as a “crime,” prompting Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to instruct the foreign ministry to summon the US Embassy’s chargé d’affaires in Baghdad and deliver a strongly worded protest note.
The US and Israel on February 28 a coordinated military campaign against Iran, with US Central Command (CENTCOM) reporting on Saturday that more than 11,000 targets across Iran have been struck so far.
In response, Tehran has launched thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets in the region, particularly in Gulf Arab states, and has launched retaliatory attacks against Israel.
Iran’s response has also involved Iraqi armed groups aligned with the Tehran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ as several factions have claimed responsibility for attacks on purported US targets in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
The latest incident included a drone attack on the residence of Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in northern Duhok province on Saturday. According to Rudaw tracking, roughly 500 drone and missile attacks have been launched at the Kurdistan Region since late February, with at least 50 carried out just last night.