BAGHDAD: Iraq said on Tuesday it will investigate suicide drone attacks on radar systems at two military bases, adding that its forces intercepted several other attempted incursions.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, and the government has not yet identified any perpetrators.
Sabah al-Numan, the military spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, described the attacks as “cowardly and treacherous”.
He said that “several small suicide drones targeted multiple Iraqi military sites and bases.” “The assault severely damaged radar systems at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and Imam Ali Base in Dhi Qar Province” in southern Iraq, he added. No casualties were reported.
Iraqi forces also thwarted other attacks against “four additional sites across various locations”, Numan said, adding that the drones were downed “before they could reach their intended targets”.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered the formation of “a high-level” committee to investigate the attacks and identify the perpetrators.
Earlier, a security source said that the first attack hit a radar system at the Taji base, and a few hours later another drone struck the radars at the Imam Ali airbase in Dhi Qar.
A drone fell in the Radwaniya district, 10 kilometres west of Baghdad International Airport, the source said, where US troops are deployed in a base as part of an anti-jihadist coalition.
The unidentified drone strikes came hours after Iran launched missiles at a US military facility in Qatar in retaliation for the US bombing of Tehran’s nuclear facilities. Following the Qatar attack, Israel said it had agreed to US President Donald Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire, and Baghdad announced the reopening of its airspace, 12 days after closing it amid the Iran-Israel war. Security sources could not name any perpetrators.
A source close to the Iran-backed Iraqi factions, who had in previous years hit bases hosting US troops, said “of course” the groups have nothing to do with the drone attacks.
Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2025