Unidentified drone crashes near Peshmerga base in Erbil’s Qushtapa

17-04-2023
Rudaw
A+ A-
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An unidentified drone crashed near a Peshmerga base south of Erbil on Sunday evening, causing no damage, a commander told Rudaw.

“Last night, we noted that a drone was flying around. By the time we alerted our superiors, it crashed,” Colonel Hassan Mohammad Sur told Rudaw on Monday. 

The origin of the drone is unclear and it has no distinct features that would help identify it, he added.

The drone crashed 500 meters away from the base of the Peshmerga ministry’s third battalion in the Qushtapa sub-district, 15 kilometres from Erbil, on the border with Kirkuk province. Iraqi forces are also positioned nearby the area.

Drone warfare has become a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region, as well as Iraq, with most incidents being attributed to Turkey, Iran, and pro-Iran Iraqi militia groups. An explosive-laden drone was found near Duhok dam by a villager last week.

Last November, several drone attacks targeted members of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) in the town of Pirde, along the Erbil-Kirkuk provincial border. Social media accounts affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary guards (IRGC) claimed responsibility.

Reporting by Soran Hussein

Comments

Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.

To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.

We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.

Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.

Post a comment

Required
Required
 

The Latest

An oil facility. File photo: Rudaw

Iraq gov’t proposes compensating oil companies in Kurdistan at $16 per barrel

The Iraqi Council of Ministers on Tuesday amended the federal budget to authorize compensation to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for oil production and transportation costs, setting the rate at $16 per barrel, a long-sought agreement aimed at resuming exports from the region’s oil fields.