Third in less than a day: armed drone attacks military base housing U.S. forces near Erbil

Shafaq News/ An armed drone on Tuesday targeted an airbase near the Erbil International airport in northern Iraq, where U.S. and other international forces are stationed, a security source revealed.

The source said that the drone was laden with explosives and it crashed in the vicinity of the airport after being spotted and intercepted by the base's air defense systems.

It was not clear whether the foiled attack caused any damage or casualties, said the source.

The Iraqi semi-autonomous Kurdistan region's security agency, Kurdistan Counter Terrorism, confirmed the attack but said in a statement that the armed drone fired by "illegal militia" was shot down.

The incident followed two similar attacks near the airport in the past 24 bours. The "Islamic Resistance in Iraq", an umbrella of Iran-backed paramilitary groups, said it was behind that attack.

U.S. and international forces based in Iraq and across the border in Syria have been on high alert amid dozens of attacks on their bases since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.