ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Region’s Natural Resources Ministry on Tuesday condemned a “terrorist” drone attack on a US-operated oilfield located in Duhok province.
The ministry announced that the Sarsang oilfield in Chamanke town, Duhok province, “came under a bomb-laden drone terrorist attack” on Tuesday, shortly after HKN Energy, the operator of the field, said they had launched an investigation to identify the source of the explosion.
"The Ministry of Natural Resources strongly condemns and denounces these acts of terrorism against the Kurdistan Region’s vital economic infrastructure,” the ministry said.
It detailed that the attack did not cause any human losses.
HKN Energy said in a statement that the attack has forced them to suspend operations at the facility.
The Sarsang field explosion comes as a spate of aerial attacks by unidentified actors have targeted the Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk since late June, coming days after the declaration of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
On Monday evening, two drones targeted Khurmala field, and a suicide drone was shot down over Erbil International Airport in the early hours of the same day, with prior attacks having targeted airports in Erbil and Kirkuk.
No side has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The attacks have sparked tensions between Erbil and Baghdad, with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) decrying the federal authorities’ silence amid the ongoing strikes.
In a statement last week, the KRG’s interior ministry denied reports by Iran-affiliated media claiming that an alleged Israeli base in Erbil was the target of one of the attacks, calling them “far from the truth,” and accusing the groups affiliated with the Iraqi state-linked Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) of being behind the recent aerial attacks.
Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, responded to the KRG statement, saying that any accusation “against an official Iraqi security institution is impermissible, condemned, and unacceptable under any pretext.”
Since 2022, Iran and its proxies have carried out several attacks on the Kurdistan Region under the pretext of targeting bases of Israeli intelligence (Mossad). Erbil has repeatedly denied the presence of Israeli bases in the Region.
Facebook
LinkedIn
Telegram
X
