UK condemns drone attacks in Kurdistan Region
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The British Embassy in Baghdad on Friday condemned a recent wave of drone attacks in the Kurdistan Region, including strikes that targeted key energy infrastructure, as tensions between Erbil and Baghdad appear to ease following a new financial agreement.
“The UK condemns the recent drone attacks across Iraq, including those this week targeting energy infrastructure in the KRI [Kurdistan Region of Iraq],” the British Embassy said in a statement. “These attacks threaten civilians' safety, damage Iraq's economy and undermine Iraq's stability.”
The embassy urged the Iraqi government to prevent further attacks and hold those responsible to account.
In the month of July, there have been at least 18 drone attacks on locations in the Kurdistan Region. Most recently, on Thursday, two explosive-laden drones crashed in Erbil’s outskirts, according to the Erbil-based Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD).
On Wednesday, the CTD reported drone strikes on two oil fields in northern Duhok province. One hit Norwegian energy company DNO’s Tawke oil field, prompting the company to temporarily suspend operations. Gulf Keystone Petroleum, which operates the Shekhan field in southern Duhok, also halted operations as a precautionary measure.
A day earlier, a drone targeted the Sarsang oil field northwest of Duhok city, operated by US-based HKN Energy. The company suspended activity pending a security review and full damage assessment.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has blamed the attacks on Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a charge Baghdad has denied.
Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff to Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, said in a statement on Wednesday that the Region has lost nearly 200,000 barrels of oil production due to the “spate of drone attacks by criminal militias on the Iraqi government payroll.”
The Kurdistan Region’s Presidency, Council of Ministers, and Ministry of Natural Resources all strongly condemned the attacks, describing them as attempts to cripple the Region’s vital oil infrastructure. They called on the federal government to hold the perpetrators to account.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.