DUBAI: The UAE slammed the targeting of its consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan for the second time in a week, the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement Saturday.
“The UAE expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the treacherous terrorist attack by a drone, which targeted the UAE Consulate General in Iraqi Kurdistan for the second time in a week and resulted in the injury of two security personnel and caused damage to the consulate building,” it said.
Iraq’s Kurdistan regional government later denounced the attack, labelling it “a terrorist act that threatens the sovereignty of Kurdish and Iraqi territory”.
It urged Baghdad to fulfil its responsibility and put an end to the activities of “armed groups and militias targeting residents” in the Kurdistan region and across Iraq.
Iraq, long a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, had said it did not want to be dragged into the war, which began on Feb 28 when Israel and the US launched strikes against Iran, but it has not been spared.
It was drawn into the conflict from the outset, with strikes blamed on the US and Israel targeting Iran-backed groups, which have since claimed attacks on US bases in Iraq, including Kurdistan, and the wider region.
On Monday, Kurdish counterterrorism forces said US-led coalition forces had “downed three explosive-laden drones over Erbil”, the capital of the Kurdistan region, with one falling near the UAE consulate.
