Drone targets US troops near airport in Iraq, no casualties

A drone attack targeted U.S.-led coalition forces near a northern Iraqi airport Wednesday, the Kurdish region’s Interior Ministry and coalition officials said.

The ministry said the attack targeted coalition forces based near Irbil international airport and caused a fire that damaged a building. It said there were no casualties.

Witnesses in Irbil reported hearing sirens and hearing a loud bang.

A coalition spokesman, Col. Wayne Marotto, said the drone landed on a storage hangar at Irbil Air Base and confirmed there were no injuries.

“A fire has been extinguished and damages are still being assessed,” Marotto said.

Irbil is in the northern Kurdish-run semi-autonomous region of Iraq.

The incident was the latest in a string of attacks that have targeted mostly American installations in Iraq in recent weeks.

Last week, two rockets landed near an Iraqi air base just north of Baghdad where American trainers are present. There were no casualties.

A month earlier, a base in western Iraq housing U.S.-led coalition troops and contractors was hit by 10 rockets. One contractor was killed.

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