Unidentified drone crashes near Peshmerga base in Erbil’s Qushtapa

17-04-2023
Rudaw
A+ A-
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An unidentified drone crashed near a Peshmerga base south of Erbil on Sunday evening, causing no damage, a commander told Rudaw.

“Last night, we noted that a drone was flying around. By the time we alerted our superiors, it crashed,” Colonel Hassan Mohammad Sur told Rudaw on Monday. 

The origin of the drone is unclear and it has no distinct features that would help identify it, he added.

The drone crashed 500 meters away from the base of the Peshmerga ministry’s third battalion in the Qushtapa sub-district, 15 kilometres from Erbil, on the border with Kirkuk province. Iraqi forces are also positioned nearby the area.

Drone warfare has become a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region, as well as Iraq, with most incidents being attributed to Turkey, Iran, and pro-Iran Iraqi militia groups. An explosive-laden drone was found near Duhok dam by a villager last week.

Last November, several drone attacks targeted members of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) in the town of Pirde, along the Erbil-Kirkuk provincial border. Social media accounts affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary guards (IRGC) claimed responsibility.

Reporting by Soran Hussein

Comments

Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.

To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.

We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.

Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.

Post a comment

Required
Required
 

The Latest

Hoshyar Siwaily, head of KDP’s foreign relations office, speaks to Rudaw in an interview on April 19, 2026. Photo: Screengrab/Rudaw

Senior KDP official says dissolving parliament, snap elections options to end political impasse

A senior member of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said on Sunday that the party is considering dissolving parliament and holding snap elections to break the deadlock over forming the Kurdistan Region’s government, nearly 18 months after the parliamentary vote.