Rockets targeting Erbil launched more than 1,000 meters from PMF checkpoint: brigade commander

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The nearest PMF checkpoint is around 1,300 meters away from the rocket launcher which attacked Erbil International Airport late Wednesday, a senior commander of the 30th brigade has told Rudaw.

“Our checkpoint is 1,300 meters away from the area where the rocket launcher was found,” said Abu Kawthar, senior commander of the 30th Brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic). “The area where the rocket launcher was found is a no-man’s-land between Peshmerga and Iraqi forces near Tarjala village.”

Abu Kawthar said that a PMF unit arrived to the area of the rocket launcher “immediately” after the attack and surrounded the area.

“Investigations are ongoing,” he added.

Several rockets landed in the vicinity of Gazna village, northeast of Erbil, near the Kurdistan Region capital's airport late Wednesday.  It is the first attack to target the Kurdistan Region in months. 

The PMF released a statement early Thursday responding to Kurdish authorities after they accused the PMF of carrying out the rocket attack the airport, where US-led coalition forces are based.

“The area from which the rockets were launched towards Erbil is considered an uninhabited area, located within a triangle surrounded by the Iraqi army, the PMF and Peshmerga forces,” the statement read.

The PMF is a predominantly Shiite paramilitary network created in 2014 following a fatwa, or religious call to action, from Iraq’s highest Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in response to the Islamic State (ISIS) insurgency.

Some PMF units linked to Iran are suspected to be behind numerous attacks against coalition bases and foreign missions in Iraq.

The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD) said that six rockets were launched toward Erbil International Airport from Sheikh Amir village in Nineveh province by PMF militants, but did not reach the airport.

"Two of the rockets did not explode and fortunately they did not cause any casualties," it said in a statement.

The KRG's interior ministry also released a statement late Wednesday confirming that six rockets were launched between Sheikh Amir and Tarjala villages in Bartella, Nineveh province.

"This area is controlled by Hashd al-Shaabi's 30th Brigade. Our special teams are seriously investigating in order to obtain more information."

Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto tweeted late Wednesday that the attacks did not hit coalition forces.

However, a US defense official told CNN that three rockets struck a coalition base, with no injuries or damage reported. 

Following the rocket attacks, an order was issued to detain the head of the security unit responsible for Hamdaniya district in Nineveh province where the rockets were launched from, according to an Iraqi Joint Operations Command statement published on Telegram.

The statement described those responsible as members of a "terrorist group."

International targets have been a site of frequent bombardment by rogue armed groups in central and southern Iraq.

Washington has signaled it could close its diplomatic mission in Baghdad and withdraw all troops from Iraq if measures are not taken to put a stop to the attacks.