2 airbases housing U.S.-led coalition forces attacked in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Two military airbases housing the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and western Iraq were attacked by drones on Thursday.

A statement by Kurdistan's regional Counter-Terrorism Service said that a booby-trapped drone hit the Harir Airbase outside the city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, at 7:15 p.m. local time (1615 GMT), setting fire to a fuel warehouse in the airbase.

There are currently no reports of casualties as the coalition forces already withdrew from the airbase on Oct. 20.

An armed group named "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" claimed in an online statement that its fighters launched two drone attacks on the Harir Airbase. It said the drones hit their targets, without providing further details.

In another online statement, the armed group said that its fighters had carried out three attacks with different weapons on the Ayn al-Asad Airbase near the town of al-Baghdadi, some 190 km northwest of the capital Baghdad.

The group previously claimed to have launched rocket and drone attacks on military bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, following the Israel-Hamas conflict that broke out in the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip in October.