Four Drones Shot Down Near U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq

Xinhua News Agency, Baghdad, July 17 (Reporter Li Jun) A source in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq said on the 17th that four drones were shot down near the U.S. consulate in Erbil, Iraq that evening. In addition, a munitions depot in Sulaymaniyah Province of the Kurdistan Region was also attacked by drones that night.

The source told Xinhua that one drone attacked a weapons depot in the capital of Sulaymaniyah Province, Sulaymaniyah city. The attack caused a large fire, leading to explosions of the ammunition stored in the depot. Civil defense personnel have rushed to the scene and are currently working to control the fire.

The source also said that Iran launched multiple missiles towards Sulaymaniyah Province around 6 a.m. that day, resulting in the deaths of at least nine members of a local armed group and injuring three others.

On the same day, the Kurdistan Region's Counter-Terrorism Directorate issued a statement saying that eight drones were shot down in the early morning in the capital of the Kurdistan Region, Erbil.

Recently, Iraq has experienced multiple drone attacks. On the 16th, a drone crashed near an oil tanker at a port in southern Iraq. On the 15th, explosions were heard near the U.S. consulate in Erbil, where multiple drones were shot down; on the same day, the Iraqi Ports Company announced that a drone had fallen near the port of Al-Faw in Basra Province, southern Iraq.