An aerial view shows Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdish region.
Safin Hamed | Afp | Getty Images
Kurdish officials said several rockets fell Sunday in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous northern Kurdish region, but added that there were no confirmed casualties so far.
A US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that there were no US military casualties as a result of the attack. Several other details were immediately available.
In the past, US forces stationed at the Erbil International Airport complex have been hit by rockets and drones that US officials blame on militia groups linked to Iran, but there have been no such attacks for months.
Kurdish officials did not immediately reveal where Saturday’s incident took place. A representative of the regional authorities said that there were no flight interruptions at the Erbil airport.
There was no immediate statement of responsibility.
Residents of Erbil have posted videos on the Internet showing several powerful explosions, and some of them said that the explosions shook their houses.
Reuters was unable to independently verify these videos.
A spokesman for the Kurdish regional government said there were no casualties.
Iraq has been rocked by chronic instability since the defeat of the Sunni Islamist group Islamic State in 2017 by a loose coalition of Iraqi, US-led and Iranian-backed forces.
Since then, Iranian-linked militias have regularly attacked US military and diplomatic installations in Iraq, US and many Iraqi officials say. Iran denies any involvement in these attacks.
Iraqi political parties, most of which have an armed wing, are also involved in tense negotiations to form a government after the October elections. Shiite militia groups close to Iran have privately warned that they would resort to violence if left out of any ruling coalition.
Among the main political opponents of these groups is their powerful Shia rival, the populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has promised to form a government that will not have Iran’s allies and include Kurds and Sunnis.