Unidentified drone crashes near Peshmerga base in Erbil’s Qushtapa

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