Explosions heard in Iraq's Erbil, US-run oil field shut down

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. [AFP]

Explosions sounded on Friday near Erbil airport in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and an attack forced a US-run oil field to shut production.

AFP journalists reported lound bangs and seeing grey smoke rising from near the airport area, which hosts US-led coalition troops

The autonomous Kurdistan region, which hosts US troops, has been pulled into the war engulfing the Middle East, suffering mostly from drone attacks on US bases and interests there.

Drones have repeatedly been intercepted over the city of Erbil, which is also home to a major US consulate complex.

Kurdistan's natural resources ministry said on Friday that oil production at an oil field operated by US firm HKN Energy had been halted following an attack in the Sarsang area in Dohuk province.

A security source told AFP the attack was carried out with two drones the previous day.

Iraq, which has recently regained a sense of stability but has long been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, had said it did not want to be dragged into the war. But it has not been spared.

Several Iran-backed armed groups -- known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, to which Kataeb Hezbollah also belongs -- have said they will not stay neutral and have claimed dozens of drone attacks on US bases.

On Tuesday, a source at an oil company in Kurdistan told AFP that most foreign oil companies had temporarily halted production as a precautionary measure.