ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The death toll from an explosion in the Tarmiyah district north of Baghdad has risen to three dead and four injured, Iraq’s Joint Operations Command announced Tuesday, attributing the incident to a “technical error.”

In a statement, the command said the explosion occurred during a mission to verify the location of an old ammunition cache in the Bu Ghantous area of Tarmiyah. The mission was initiated after the National Security Service received intelligence about the hidden cache.

Security personnel from the service, in coordination with the Iraqi Army’s 23rd Infantry Brigade, responded to the site.

“A technical error outside standard procedures caused the cache to detonate, killing three officers and injuring four others,” according to the statement.

In response, an investigative committee has been formed to determine why the protocol was not followed. The command stressed that handling ammunition caches or remnants of war “typically falls under the jurisdiction of the military engineering corps.”

The Joint Operations Command also denied reports on social media claiming the explosion was caused by a terrorist attack or armed clashes.

“We urge the public to verify information and rely only on official sources,” the statement said.

Earlier Tuesday, a security source told The New Region that a National Security Service member and an Iraqi Army officer were among the dead. The source attributed the explosion to a technical error while handling the ammunition cache believed to be a remnant of ISIS activity.

In another statement, Baghdad Operations Command mourned the loss of its personnel from the 6th Infantry Division, who died due to the explosion, extending condolences to the families of the deceased, wishing “a speedy recovery for the injured.”