A drone attack on the Khor Mor gasfield in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has halted gas supply to power stations and cut electricity across much of the region, Al Jazeera reported on 9 November. The strike, which it said happened on Sunday night in Sulaimaniyah governorate, started a fire at the facility. Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, Sanad, verified footage showing smoke and flames near the site.
Officials said more than 70 per cent of the region lost power. Omid Ahmed, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s electricity ministry, said gas supplies to plants in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok were stopped, removing between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts of generation from the grid. He said the ministry would try to keep power flowing to hospitals and water treatment plants using hydroelectric stations and plants running on alternative fuel.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said initial assessments showed no casualties, according to the Iraqi News Agency, and ordered a joint investigation with the Kurdish authorities. Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Baghdad cited security sources who described an explosive-laden drone hitting the gas storage facility.
The report says it is unclear who carried out the attack or whether it is linked to the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran. It adds that a drone strike on the same facility in November 2025 also went unclaimed.
Reporting note: no one has claimed responsibility, and the casualty assessment is preliminary. The figures come from Kurdish and Iraqi officials and security sources quoted by a single outlet, Al Jazeera. Production volumes and the length of the outage have not been reported.
Photo: Zirguezi / Public domain / Wikimedia Commons
