It is the latest attack by Iran and Iranian-backed militias using drones and missiles on the Kurdistan region. Iranian-backed militias have launched more than 500 attacks since February 28.

A drone attack on the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq killed a Kurdish couple, media reported from Erbil on Tuesday.

It is the latest attack by Iran and Iranian-backed militias using drones and missiles on the Kurdistan region. Iranian-backed militias have launched more than 500 attacks since February 28, when Israel and the US began attacks on Iran.

Iran has sought to move the war to Iraq and is focused on the Kurdish region. Iran has also attacked the Kurdistan region directly, killing Kurdish Peshmerga and targeting Kurdish Iranian opposition groups.

Kurdish leaders in the autonomous region have called the recent drone attack a “terrorist attack.” They are demanding that Baghdad stop letting terrorist groups operate from Iraq.

According to the reports, the drone attack was launched from Iran. This means that Iran is likely directly responsible for this attack, even though Tehran and Baghdad often try to avoid responsibility by blaming attacks on militias.

Wladimir Van Wilgenburg, an expert on Kurdish issues who is based in the Kurdistan Region, shared a photo of the funeral of the Kurdish couple. “The family of Musa Anwar Rasool and his wife, Mujda Asaad Hassan, killed in an Iranian drone strike, say their final goodbyes at a mosque before the couple is laid to rest. They leave behind two children, now orphaned,” he wrote on X/Twitter. The couple had two daughters who now have no parents.

Iraqi government must prevent Iranian drone attacks, KRG President Barzani insists

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani condemned the “terrorist attack” and extended condolences to the victims’ families. “These attacks are in no way acceptable and are completely rejected,” Rudaw media in Erbil reported him saying.

“The Iraqi federal government must fulfill its duty and responsibility to prevent these crimes and terrorist attacks, and these assaults on the civilian and innocent people of the Kurdistan Region must not be repeated,” Barzani noted.

Kurdish media said that no group had claimed responsibility for the attack, but said Iranian-backed groups were likely behind it.

“Erbil Governor Omed Xoshnaw told Rudaw on Tuesday that three drones targeted the village where the couple lived, a rural agricultural area with no known military presence. Two drones fell in open land, while the third struck the couple’s home,” Rudaw noted.

“I condemn this heinous crime in the strongest terms and denounce its perpetrators,” said Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in a statement. “The targeting of civilians and civilian homes is a war crime.” He went on to say that “we will convey the voice of the victims to the international community to help end the oppression and the unjustified attacks against the people of the Kurdistan Region.”

Rudaw says that 540 drones have targeted areas around Erbil since February, while 111 have targeted Sulimaniyeh province. Twenty-five have also struck near Dohuk. Erbil and Dohuk are considered bases of support for the Kurdish KDP party, which is historically more critical of Iran, while Sulimaniyeh is the home of the PUK Kurdish party, which is considered to have warmer ties to Tehran.

“Before Tuesday’s incident, the attacks had killed 14 people and injured 93 others, including Peshmerga forces, Asayish personnel, fighters from Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, a French soldier, and multiple civilians. With the latest fatalities, the death toll is expected to rise further,” Rudaw noted.