Drone Strike Halts Gas Supply, Darkening Most of Kurdistan

Residents across northern Iraq lost electricity on Sunday night after a drone struck the Khor Mor gasfield. The attack ignited a fire at the storage facility in Sulaimaniyah governorate, cutting off the fuel needed to generate power in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. More than 70 percent of the area remained without electricity as the disruption spread.

Security sources told Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Smith that a drone carrying explosives hit the gas storage site. Footage of smoke and flames rising from the area was verified by Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency. Omid Ahmed, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Electricity, confirmed that gas deliveries to power plants in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal, and Duhok had stopped.

Ahmed stated that the loss of gas removed between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts of generation capacity from the grid. Other security estimates placed the reduction in energy grid capacity between 70 and 80 percent. The ministry plans to rely on hydroelectric stations and plants using alternative fuels to keep essential services running. Hospitals and water treatment plants are prioritized for power while gas supplies remain suspended.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced that an initial assessment found no casualties from the strike. He ordered the creation of a joint investigative committee involving authorities from the Kurdish region to examine the incident. The committee is tasked with determining the circumstances of the attack and identifying the party responsible.

The responsibility for the Sunday strike remains unclear. Officials have not stated whether the incident is linked to the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran. This attack follows a similar drone strike on the same facility last year, which also left the cause undetermined.