US, Turkish forces in Iraq targeted in separate attacks
A Turkish soldier was killed northeast of Mosul shortly after NATO and US officials announced they will withdraw from Afghanistan this year.
Erbil International Airport in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region was hit by at least one explosion Wednesday night, Iraqi and US officials said.
The blast, which was audible throughout much of the city, is believed to have been caused by a drone, a spokesman for the US-led international military coalition in Iraq, Col. Wayne Marotto, told Al-Monitor by phone.
“An unmanned aerial surveillance system landed on a storage hangar at Erbil Air Base,” Marotto said. A fire at the site was extinguished and no injuries were reported, he said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government said a drone carrying explosives targeted a warehouse in an area of the base used by US-led coalition personnel. The base sits adjacent to and on the grounds of Erbil’s civilian airport.
