March 28 (Reuters) – A drone attack targeted the home of the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region early on Saturday, security sources said, in an incident that comes as tensions continue to rise across northern Iraq.
Air defences also shot down a drone near a Peshmerga fighters’ base in Duhok, the sources added.
The strikes come amid a surge in attacks on both Iran-aligned militias and Kurdish forces as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran spills over into Iraq, drawing in multiple armed groups and straining Baghdad’s efforts to contain the fallout.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the attack on Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani’s home and spoke with him by phone, his office said.
Sudani ordered the creation of a joint federal-Kurdistan security and technical team to investigate the incidents and identify those responsible, the statement added.
Airstrikes have been targeting sites belonging to Iraq’s umbrella group for Iran-backed Shi’ite militias, the Popular Mobilization Forces, and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Iraq’s Kurdistan since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
Iraq’s military accused the U.S. and Israel of carrying out some of the airstrikes on the PMF.
Tehran-backed armed groups have also launched attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and the U.S. embassy.
(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha additional reporting Muayad Suadi, Writing by Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Editing by Joe Bavier and Louise Heavens)
