By Manal Abdel Fattah
The Presidency of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq condemned, in an official statement, this evening, Sunday, the terrorist attack that targeted the headquarters of the Peshmerga forces in Erbil Governorate last night, in which drones were used.
The regional presidency statement said that targeting the Peshmerga forces, which are an official force and part of the Iraqi federal defense system, is a dangerous and unacceptable development that threatens the security and stability of Iraq, and we call on the Iraqi federal government to take serious and decisive measures to find and punish the perpetrators of the attack, and to conduct coordination and joint investigation with the regional government. .
The statement continued: The continuation of attacks and striking the Kurdistan region using marches only results in harming the security and stability of Iraq and further aggravates the situation.
The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a Peshmerga base northeast of Erbil, and described the attack as “an attack on all of Iraq,” stressing that “the federal government is responsible for deterring the perpetrators.”
The head of the regional government wrote on his official account on the (X) platform: “I am deeply concerned about the terrorist attack that targeted a Peshmerga base northeast of Erbil last night, and I condemn in the strongest terms the outlaws and their accomplices.” Adding: “We are well aware of the games they are playing here, and the outlaws behind them, and we have the right to defend our people.”
Masrour Barzani stressed that “the federal government must view any attack on the Kurdistan region as an attack on all of Iraq, and confront it with appropriate action,” adding that “continued inaction will encourage these perpetrators to continue committing their crimes.”
The head of the regional government stressed that “they are exploiting the state’s funds and weapons to attack Kurdistan and destabilize the entire country, which exposes it to the risk of reigniting the conflict in a country that has experienced enough bloodshed.”
He also urged the Federal Prime Minister to take practical and effective measures to deter these groups, hold them accountable, and reaffirm state control over the lands used as a launching pad for these attacks.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani directed the security services to open a comprehensive investigation into the attack that targeted a Peshmerga headquarters in Erbil. A statement issued by the Security Media Cell, today, Sunday, said, “Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani directed the security services to open a comprehensive investigation into the criminal attack on the Salah al-Din resort in Erbil Governorate.”
He added, “A march targeted a plane at 7:30 last Saturday night, a location where units of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Guard forces were present.” The statement pointed out that “immediately after the occurrence of this event, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces directed the opening of a comprehensive security investigation into the criminal incident, and assigned the security services, in coordination with the security services in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, to follow up the investigation to uncover the circumstances and data of the attack in order to reach the results required to determine the perpetrator and the objectives of the attack.” “An escalation that affects national sovereignty and attempts to tamper with internal security and stability.”
In the same context; The head of the Salvation and Development Front, Osama al-Nujaifi, stated that bombing the headquarters of the Peshmerga forces in Erbil via drones “means striking the foundations of the state,” calling for urgent government action.
Al-Nujaifi, who held several government positions, including Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, said in a blog post on the “X” platform, today, Sunday, that “the exposure of Peshmerga headquarters to being bombed by drones and by outlaw groups means, among other things, striking the components of the state.”
He also considered the attack a “flagrant, direct assault,” indicating that it “requires urgent action by the government to strike these people, pursue and attack their foundations and methods of work.” Al-Nujaifi believed that “the strength of the state represents a message of confidence to the entire people,” pointing out that “it is time to stop the bullying of non-state forces.”
For his part, the official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s office in Cairo, Sherko Habib, described the attacks as a violation of the sovereignty of all of Iraq and a violation of the state’s laws, because the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces are part of the Iraqi defense system and remain the invincible support for any attack on Iraq.
Habib added that the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces had an effective role in repelling ISIS terrorist attacks, and any attack on them and other Iraqi forces is a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, stressing that terrorist acts will not affect the strength and resolve of the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces.
