Photos of a married couple and their two daughters. The parents were killed in a drone strike in Erbil province on April 7, 2026. Photos: submitted
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A drone strike killed a married couple in a village in Erbil province early Tuesday, leaving two young children orphaned.
Musa Anwar, 39, and Mzhda As'ad, 35, were killed in the attack as they slept. Their daughters, Dilin, 5, and Malin, 3, were in another room at the time of the strike, sparing their lives.
“The children were also inside, two small children, left without a father, without a mother, without anyone,” Imad Badraddin, Anwari’s nephew, told Rudaw’s Payam Sarbast.
When asked about their condition, he said, “They are safe… they are shocked and terrified. They keep crying and asking for their mother and father. They left and are no more.”
The strike hit Zargezawi village, part of the Dareshakran sub-district, about 45 kilometers from Erbil. The village is home to around 400 households, whose residents rely on farming and animal herding.
Relatives stressed that the area has no military presence. “The village has no strangers in it and no military base,” a relative of Musa said, adding that a member of the family had previously been killed in the war against the Islamic State group. “This has now become the third martyr from that family.”
Mzhda’s father, As'ad Hassan, who has been bedridden with a serious illness, said his daughter and her husband were inside their home when the strike occurred. “My message is this: Oh God, may God destroy those [who did this]. May God hold them accountable.”
Following the incident, Kurdish security authorities said the drone had been directed from Iran, describing the attack as a violation of international law and a war crime.
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