Suicide drone crashes into Erbil residential building, no casualties

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An unidentified suicide drone crashed into a residential building in Erbil at 6:05 p.m. on Friday, causing no casualties, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Directorate General of Counter Terrorism.

The Directorate is withholding the exact location of the attack citing security concerns.

Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Region Security Council announced in a statement that it is the responsibility of the Iraqi government to prevent "outlaw groups" from attacking the Kurdish region.

After some Kurdish media outlets on Friday claimed that Erbil International Airport was attacked, Ahmed Hoshyar, the Director of Erbil International Airport, refuted these reports, stating to Kurdistan 24 that no attack had been carried out on the airport.

Earlier on Thursday, the US Pentagon’s Deputy Press Secretary, Sabrina Singh, stated that there had been 78 attacks on bases in Iraq and Syria hosting U.S. troops since Oct. 17th.

While this latest attack did not strike any American or Coalition installations, it is believed to be part of a restarted proxy campaign by Iraqi insurgents after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended on Dec. 1. 

Also on Friday at dawn, at least three rockets targeted the US Embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone, landing on the outskirts of the district housing government and diplomatic buildings, an Iraqi security official said.

In response to the Green Zone attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shi’a al-Sudani swiftly directed all security leaders to pursue the perpetrators of the attacks and bring them to justice.