ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A drone was shot down late Thursday over a Peshmerga base near Sulaimani city, a security official said. It is not clear where the drone originated from but a similar attack in Erbil was blamed on pro-Iran militia groups.
"At 10:45 pm tonight, a drone came over the sky of the command [center] and was shot at and brought down, and there was no damage, as it fell in an empty area within the command [center]," said Ahmad Latif, spokesperson for Unit 70, the Peshmerga force affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The Unit 70 base is located a few kilometers northwest of Sulaimani city on the road to Kirkuk.
The incident follows renewed drone activity across the Kurdistan Region after a US-brokered ceasefire between Iran and Israel took effect on June 24, ending a 12-day conflict. Several explosive-laden drones have either crashed or been intercepted in the Region since.
On Saturday, the Kurdistan Region’s interior ministry accused the federal government of failing to address repeated drone incursions.
The Region’s interior ministry on Friday specifically accused the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) of involvement in the drone incidents.
Baghdad promptly rejected the allegations the next day, calling the accusations against the PMF - a sovereign security force - “unacceptable.”
Nizar Jaza contributed to this report.
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