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Kurdistan
PUK co-chair Bafel Talabani speaks to Kurdish media outlets on September 3, 2021. Photo: Handout
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) co-chair on Sunday condemned the missile attack targeting Erbil earlier in the day, offering his party’s complete support to find out the perpetrators of the “terrorist attack”.
“I strongly condemn these attacks and wish safety for the dear people of Erbil,” Bafel Talabani said in a statement, adding that the reoccurrence of such attacks “is a clear indicator of attempts to ruin the stability in the Kurdistan Region.”
“The PUK is ready for all support and help in finding the perpetrators of this terrorist attack,” he added.
The statement from the PUK co-chair came hours after twelve missiles were launched from outside Iraq toward Erbil.
The Kurdistan Region’s counter terrorism department confirmed that twelve missiles were targeted at the US consulate building in Erbil from outside the Region and Iraq, hitting different neighborhoods of the city. The department added that the missiles were launched from the east, and that no casualties have been caused by the attack.
This is the first attack on US missions in the Kurdistan Region this year. While no group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, similar attacks have previously been blamed on Iranian-backed Iraqi militias who have demanded that United States forces withdraw from Iraq.
Talabani’s statement comes as his party shares strong ties with the Coordination Framework, consisting of Iran backed parties who are also in charge of many of the armed groups that have previously been blamed for attacks on US missions in Iraq.
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was among the first people to take to Twitter on Sunday morning, sending his “peace and love” to the Kurdish people and urging “forbearance until the achievement of a national majority government".
Sadr, whose party has won the largest bloc in Iraq’s 2021 elections, has teamed up with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi's Taqqadum party to challenge the PUK’s candidate for the presidency, and has made his intention clear to exclude Iran backed parties, especially those of Nouri al-Maliki and Qais al-Khazali, from the government formation process.
Halbousi condemned the attack on Sunday, calling it "an attack on the sovereignty of Iraq and the security of all its citizens."
Despite having met with officials from the Coordination Framework and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s Quds Force Esmail Qaani on multiple occasions, Sadr has always come out of the meetings with the same message, and that is to form a national majority government, a message that the Iran backed parties are not fond of.
Iraqi President Barham Salih also condemned the attack shortly after Talabani, claiming that the timing was “suspicious” and adding that the attack showed “signs of political détente” aiming to obstruct the constitutional process of forming a capable government.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Qubad Talabani also expressed his condemnation of the attack stating that "there is no justification for such cowardly actions."
Updated at 1:30 pm
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