ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional government condemned the “unjustified attacks” by Tehran on Friday calling on Baghdad and the international community to take actionable steps to bring about an end to escalations amid a surge of attacks on the Region.
“We condemn the unjustified attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Kurdistan Region,” the Kurdistan Region Council of Ministers Presidency stated, noting that “the continuation of these attacks disrupts the stability of the entire region.”
“We call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to end these attacks, and we urge the Iraqi Federal Government and the international community to put a stop to these violations,” the council’s presidency emphasized.
The remarks come shortly after the Kurdish dissident group Komala Toilers of Kurdistan reported Friday that nine of its members were killed and several others wounded in a missile attack on one of its bases in the Kurdistan Region's eastern Sulaimani province.
“We strongly condemn the attacks on the Kurdistan Region,” the Kurdistan Region's Presidency similarly stated on Friday, calling the targeting and “the resumption of violence” a “dangerous escalation and a blatant violation” of sovereignty.
“Our main headquarters in the town of Zirgwez was struck by six missiles,” one of the group's senior commanders told Rudaw, noting that the death toll could rise further.
Later in the day, the Kurdistan Region Security Agency confirmed that “a total of seven missiles” were fired - four at Zirgwez, one at Qasdri and two near Grdi Kopani villages in Sulaimani.
“A detailed investigation by our teams is ongoing to determine the human and material damages caused by the attacks,” the Agency added.
In addition to the attacks recorded in Sulaimani, several drones were intercepted over Erbil, the Kurdistan Region's capital, in the early hours of Friday.
The Erbil-based Counter-Terrorism Directorate confirmed that "between 4:19 and 5:25 am [local time], [US-led] Coalition forces intercepted and shot down eight bomb-laden drones in the skies over Erbil," adding that the incidents left no casualties."
Earlier on Wednesday, the Directorate had reported that the Coalition forces had “intercepted and shot down eight explosive-laden drones” over Erbil “between 8:53 pm and 9:20 pm,” local time with no casualties reported.
Meanwhile, the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a US-based human rights organization that monitors conflicts, reported Friday that since the late-February onset of the Iran war, “30 people have lost their lives and 114 others have been injured” in the Kurdistan Region in attacks launched by Iran and “its affiliated groups in Iraq.”
