Drone strike shuts Khor Mor gasfield, plunges parts of Iraqi Kurdistan into blackout

A drone attack on Iraq’s Khor Mor gasfield has forced the site to halt operations, triggering power cuts across large parts of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq and raising fresh concerns over the security of critical energy infrastructure.

The strike occurred at around 11:30pm local time on Wednesday and hit several gas storage tanks, causing a large explosion and fire that injured several workers, according to Reuters. No fatalities have been reported.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said the apparent aim was to destabilise the region. The attack, it noted, targeted “security and economic stability”.

Roughly 8 percent of the regional power grid has been knocked offline, leading to widespread electricity outages, local officials said.

The Khor Mor field, located between Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, is operated by UAE-based Dana Gas and is a key supplier of gas for power generation in the Kurdish region. Engineers say damaged tanks could take two to three days to repair, with government and company teams now investigating the incident.

No group has claimed responsibility, but the facility has been repeatedly targeted in the past. Earlier this week, security forces intercepted a drone attempting a similar strike on the same site. In 2024, another drone attack at Khor Mor killed four workers.