Drone attack suspends production at Iraq’s Khor Mor gasfield
A drone attack on Iraq's Khor Mor gasfield caused a fire and cut power to more than 70 percent of the Kurdish region on Sunday night, officials said.
The attack, which Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad has verified, struck the Khor Mor gas storage facility in the Sulaimaniyah governorate.
It caused a fire and cut power to the cities of Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok, according to Omid Ahmed, the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Electricity.
The strike knocked between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts of electricity generation off the grid, he said.
Power restoration efforts
The ministry will provide electricity to critical facilities, such as hospitals and water treatment plants, by operating hydroelectric power stations and other plants that run on alternative fuel.
Investigation and regional context
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said there were no casualties as a result of the attack, based on an initial assessment.
He also directed that a joint investigative committee be formed with the relevant authorities in the Kurdish region to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack.
The attack comes amid heightened regional tensions and follows a similar drone strike on the same facility last year, for which no group has claimed responsibility.
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