SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States said on Thursday it was “outraged” by attacks in the Kurdistan Region, after an explosives-laden drone targeted Erbil airport and a rocket hit a base in Bashiqa that hosts Turkish troops.
“The Iraqi people have suffered for far too long from this kind of violence and violation of their sovereignty,” spokesman of the U.S. State Department Ned Price said in a tweet early on Thursday.
An explosives-laden drone targeted a coalition base at Erbil international airport on Wednesday night, according to the Kurdistan Region’s ministry of interior. It caused no casualties.
Coalition spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto said the drone landed on a storage hanger at Erbil airport base and confirmed there were no injuries, according to AP.
Shortly before the attack in Erbil, at least two rockets landed on and near a base to the west of the city that hosts Turkish forces, Iraqi security officials said.
Turkey’s defense ministry said a Turkish soldier was killed after one of the rockets landed inside the base.
Sources told Iraqi media that the other rocket landed inside a village near the base, killing a young woman.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered on Thursday an “immediate investigation” into the attacks on Erbil airport and the base in Bashiqa.
Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani condemned the attacks, saying it was a “blatant attempt” to undermine the Kurdistan Region’s security.
He added that any armed groups which are not operating within the official Iraqi security forces “must be withdrawn” from the Region’s border.
“Over the coming days, I will hold talks with Iraqi and international partners on practical ways to make this happen,” he said in a statement.
Separately, the Kurdistan Region’s presidency said the attacks would further complicate the situation in Iraq.
“The repetition of these attacks requires serious efforts, and the Kurdistan Region and the federal government backed by the international coalition should increase cooperation and assistance to confront those groups behind these attacks,” it said in a statement.
The Iran-backed militias oppose both the presence of the United States and Turkey and demand a full withdrawal of all foreign troops.
