No one detained over Erbil rocket attack: Nineveh governor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Investigations are ongoing regarding Erbil’s Wednesday rocket attack with no suspects detained as of yet, the governor of Nineveh told Rudaw on Thursday.

“The perpetrators of Erbil’s attack are yet to be detained, as the local government has not been informed of any detention made following the attack,” Najim al-Jibouri said. “The committee that Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi established to investigate the incident is still investigating.”

The group behind Erbil’s rocket attack aims to “create chaos” and plunge Iraq into a proxy conflict, he said, adding “we reject any attacks on the Kurdistan Region, same as on Nineveh province.”

Several rockets landed in the vicinity of Gazna village, northeast of Erbil, near the Kurdistan Region capital's airport late Wednesday. The airport is home to a base hosting US-led coalition troops. 

“The area where the rockets were launched in Nineveh province is under the control of Hashd al-Shaabi 30th brigade, and this brigade is responsible for the incident since the security of the area was under their control,” al-Jibouri added.

The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd-al Shaabi in Arabic) 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 have been accused of repeated attacks against foreign embassies, convoys and troops based in Iraq in recent months. 

The PMF released a statement early Thursday responding to Kurdish authorities after they also  accused the PMF of carrying out the rocket attack.

“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.

“Our checkpoint is 1,300 meters away from the area where the rocket launcher was found,” Abu Kawthar, senior commander of the 30th Brigade of the PMF told Rudaw on Thursday. “The area where the rocket launcher was found is a no-man’s-land between Peshmerga and Iraqi forces near Tarjala village.” 

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.

"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.