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‘Suicide drones’ targeting US troops shot down by coalition forces

No specific group has claimed responsibility for the attempted attack, which occurred on the second anniversary of the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

By World Israel News Staff

Explosive “suicide drones” attempting to attack U.S. and anti-ISIS coalition forces stationed in a compound at Baghdad Airport were shot down overnight Sunday, an unamed security official told AFP.

The attempted attack occurred on the second anniversary of the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, and the message “Commanders’ revenge operations” was found etched on the ruins of the destroyed UAVs.

No specific group has claimed responsibility for the attempted attack.

The official told AFP that “two fixed-wing suicide drones, or improvised cruise missiles” approached Baghdad Airport at “approximately 4:30 a.m.”

A counter-rocket, artillery and mortar, or C-RAM, system “at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center engaged them and they were shot down without incident.”

There were no reports of injuries or damages, though photos on social media show the ruins of the aircraft scattered on the street near the airport.

“The Iraqis have opened an investigation,” the source added. “There is no damage, but this is a civilian airport, it is very dangerous to launch this type of attack.”

Five days after Soleimani was killed in January 2020, Iran fired missiles at an airbase in Iraq housing US troops and another near Erbil in the country’s north. Since then dozens of rockets and roadside bombs have targeted US security, military and diplomatic sites across Iraq.

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In April 2021, an unmanned drone dropped explosives targeting U.S. troops stationed at Erbil Airport in northern Iraq.

In February 2021, a rocket attack at Erbil Airport killed a non-American contractor who’d been retained by the U.S. military.

Three mortars struck near the U.S. Embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad in July 2020.

On Sunday, Israeli news sites the Jerusalem Post and its sister publication Maariv were hacked by pro-Iranian groups, who posted threatening messages in English and Hebrew on their pages.

An image of what appeared to be a missile striking the Negev city of Dimona, which houses Israel’s nuclear reactor, was also shown.

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AFP contributed to this report.