Two explosives-laden drones shot down in Baghdad: security media cell

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Two explosive-laden drones were shot down in Baghdad early on Wednesday, Iraq’s Security Media Cell has said.   

"The security forces in the Baghdad Operations Command managed to shoot down a drone carrying explosives in an empty area near Rashid camp in Baghdad,” it tweeted.

A second drone was shot down in the Kartan area, south of Baghdad, it added.

It comes just a week after three drones targeted Baghdad International Airport on June 9. One of the drones was shot down.

Earlier this month, the US Department of Defense revealed it is developing an interceptor missile against unmanned drones in populated areas. According to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the goal is to devise anti-drone technology that does not cause as much collateral damage as explosions.

Frequent attacks on the Baghdad airport and military bases around the country housing US troops are blamed on Iranian-backed militias who want to force American troops to withdraw from Iraq.

The use of drones, a new tactic, is concerning, the head of US Central Command said last week. “We are seeing pressure from Iranian-affiliated militant groups that want to push us out of Iraq, and the latest manifestation of that has been the use of small unmanned aerial systems, or drones,” said Commander General Kenneth McKenzie.

Erbil International Airport was also hit by an explosives-laden drone in April.

On Sunday, channels affiliated to Iran-backed factions of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi) showed pictures of militias parading drones on trucks through Baghdad. Abd al-Rahman al-Jazairi, a PMF leader affiliated with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, told Rudaw in May that there are Iranian-made drones in Iraq ready to be used against US combat troops.