Drones strike Iranian Kurdish refugee camp in Erbil

ERBIL — Three explosive drones struck the Darashakran refugee camp in Erbil early Monday, the first reported drone attack in the Kurdistan Region after a period of calm, according to the region’s Directorate General of Counter-Terrorism.

The directorate said the drones hit at 5:15 a.m. and 5:28 a.m., striking the camp, which houses Iranian Kurdish refugees, in the Darashakran subdistrict of Pirmam district in Erbil governorate. It said the attack caused no casualties and did not immediately provide details on material damage or identify who was responsible.

No group claimed the attack, and the directorate did not attribute responsibility.

The strike comes amid renewed tensions between the United States and Iran after a fragile June ceasefire unraveled. Over the past week, U.S. forces carried out new strikes on Iranian military targets following attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran launched missiles and drones at U.S. military facilities in several Gulf countries.

The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated cross-border drone and missile strikes. Community Peacemaker Teams – Iraqi Kurdistan has documented 751 attacks across the Kurdistan Region between Feb. 28 and May 28, during and after this year’s conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. The report recorded 22 people killed and 112 injured, including 10 people affiliated with Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and 12 civilians, Iraqi Kurdish security personnel and other non-combatants. Erbil governorate recorded 588 of the attacks, more than three-quarters of the total, and Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and their camps were targeted in 232.

The strike also follows the killing of a 26-year-old Kurdish man after Iranian soldiers opened fire near the Iran-Iraq border in the Khnera highlands of Erbil’s Sidakan sub-district last week.