Booby-trapped drone hit U.S.-led coalition base in Iraq's Kurdistan

BAGHDAD, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A booby-trapped drone on Wednesday struck a U.S.-led coalition base in Erbil airport, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, a Kurdish statement said.

The Kurdish regional authorities investigated an explosion that occurred in Erbil International Airport in the evening and discovered that it was caused by a drone carrying TNT explosives, a statement by the regional Ministry of Interior said.

"Fortunately, the explosion did not cause any casualties except damages to a building," the statement said, adding that investigations are underway.

Hoshyar Zebari, a prominent Kurdish official and former Iraqi foreign minister, said in a tweet that "tonight there was yet another terrorist drone attack on Erbil airport. This is a clear and dangerous escalation."

He said that it seems the same militia who targeted the airport two months ago was involved in the attack.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the rocket attack on the relatively peaceful Kurdistan region.

On February 15, several rockets landed in and near Erbil airport and the coalition base, killing a foreign civilian contractor with the international coalition forces, and wounding nine others, including an American soldier.

An unknown armed faction calling itself the Awliya al-Dam Brigades, or Guardians of blood, claimed responsibility for the February attack.

Such attacks have frequently targeted Iraqi airports and military bases housing U.S. troops, as well as the U.S. embassy in the Green Zone with mortar and rocket attacks.