Spox slams attempts to attribute Erbil attack to Iran

TEHRAN (Defapress) - Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman strongly condemned the dubious attempt to attribute last night's Erbil incident to Iran.

News ID: 83027

Date: 17 February 2021 - 02:49

In reaction to the news about last night's incident in Erbil and some suspicious rumors in this regard, Saeed Khatibzadeh said, "While these rumors are strongly rejected, the dubious attempt to attribute it to Iran is also strongly condemned."

"Iran considers the stability and security of Iraq a key issue for the region and its neighbors, and rejects any action that disturbs the peace and order in this country," he added.

Describing such actions as suspicious, the Foreign Ministry spokesman called on the Iraqi government to issue the necessary instructions to follow up and deal with the perpetrators.

A rocket attack in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Monday killed a civilian contractor with the American-led military coalition and wounded six others, including a US service member, said a US-led coalition spokesman.

Several other rockets landed in residential areas of the city, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including one close to the Chinese Consulate.

A newly-established militant group that calls itself “Saraya Awliya al-Dam” has claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, Press TV reported.

The group claimed that it fired 24 rockets from an area 7 kilometers away from the US-occupied al-Tahrir military base, all of which hit their targets as the coalition air defenses failed to intercept the rockets.