The American military’s Central Command announced on Wednesday that it “brought down” an Iranian drone near Erbil, in Iraq’s Kurdish region, as it threatened U.S. personnel in the area.
“At approximately 2:10 PM local time, U.S. forces brought down an Iranian [Qods] Mohajer-6 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle headed in the direction of Erbil as it appeared as a threat to CENTCOM forces in the area,” said the statement from CENTCOM spokesperson Col. Joe Buccino.
The Iranian drone attack targeting the base of an Iranian-Kurdish resistance group in northern Iraq killed at least nine persons and wounded 32 others, according to the Kurdish Regional Government’s Health Ministry.
No U.S. personnel were injured by the Iranian attack, said Buccino. “U.S. Central Command condemns the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ unprovoked attack in Iraq’s Erbil Governorate this morning,” said the statement.
“These provocative and unilateral actions would complicate the security scene and cast a shadow over the region, and will only contribute to further tension.” responded Iraq’s Foreign Ministry in a statement released on the day of the attack. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is closely following the developments of the successive bombardment, and reiterates the Iraqi government’s rejection of any military action to face the security challenges. The Ministry emphasizes that it will resort to all measures that ensure non-recurrence of such actions using the highest most diplomatic positions.” they further iterated in their statement.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: “We strongly condemn Iran’s use of ballistic missiles and drone attacks against the Iraqi Kurdistan Region as an unjustified violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
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