A drone attack on the sprawling Khor Mor gasfield in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq has resulted in a large fire, suspending production at the site, while plunging much of semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan into darkness.
Huge amounts of smoke and flames have been seen rising from the vicinity of the gasfield in the Sulaimaniyah governorate. Regional reports Sunday night indicated over 70% of the region's power generation has been knocked offline.
Khor More is the region's largest natural gas field, which is a major source of fuel for local power stations. The whole region essentially runs off of one gas field.
Source: Kurdistan Regional GovernmentOmid Ahmed, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Electricity, was cited in Al Jazeera as saying the attack "suspended gas supply to power plants in the cities of Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok."
The explosive-laden drone had an uknown origin. No group or nation-state has claimed responsibility as yet.
US Presidential Envoy to Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack has described the strike as an attack on the Iraqi people and expressed support to uncover and hunt down the attackers
"We condemn the attack on Khor Mor, which was an attack on the Iraqi people. We support Prime Minister Zaidi and the Kurdistan Regional Government in finding those responsible and holding them to account,"
