4 killed in Iranian missile attack on Iraq’s Erbil

BAGHDAD: Four people were killed and six injured in a missile attack carried out by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the city of Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, regional security authorities said Tuesday.

At 11:30 p.m. on Monday (2030 GMT), the IRGC fired ballistic missiles on “several populated civilian areas” in Erbil, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said in a statement.

It said preliminary reports showed that the bombardment killed four civilians and wounded six.

“Erbil, as a stable region, has never been a source of threat to any party,” the statement said, describing the missile attack as “a clear violation of the sovereignty of the (Kurdish) region and Iraq.”

The statement also called on the federal government and the international community not to remain silent about such attacks.

Earlier, a local security source, who requested anonymity, told Xinhua that six explosions were heard around midnight near the under-construction U.S. consulate in the northern part of Erbil.

Meanwhile, the IRGC said in a statement on Monday that it launched missile attacks on “spy headquarters” in the region, according to the official IRNA news agency.

The statement said the missiles hit their targets and more details would be announced later.

-Xinhua