ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Five members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were injured Wednesday while attempting to shoot down an explosive-laden drone in the western province of Anbar, officials have said.

The incident occurred in the Razzaza area, where PMF units engaged a drone reportedly flying toward the town of al-Rahaliyah. According to a statement from the PMF, the drone was intercepted and shot down but exploded during the process, injuring five members.

A statement from the mayor of the Amiriyah district, who visited the wounded, described the event as a “terrorist incident” and confirmed that all five members were receiving medical treatment. The area where the drone was intercepted falls under the operational control of the PMF’s 54th Brigade.

According to defense analyst Federico Borsari, the drone appears to be part of the Samad family of unmanned aerial systems, most likely a Samad-2 variant, which has a range of over one thousand kilometers. 

He noted that this variant is most commonly used by Houthi forces in Yemen, but also by "pro-Iranian Iraqi PMF groups." Borsari added that, if the drone belonged to the Houthis, it is possible that "it may have been aimed at [targeting] US bases."

The US military has been engaging in a campaign of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, coming after the group have repeatedly targeted international shipping since 2023 in solidarity with Hamas amid Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. 

The Samad family of drones take their name from the former Houthi leader Saleh al-Sammad, who was killed by UAE forces in 2018.

The New Region has previously reported the linkages between Houthi militants and Iran-aligned PMF groups in Iraq, with one incident in 2024 seeing a Houthi technical expert and several PMF members killed in a US strike in Babil while testing attack drones.