ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – President Masoud Barzani on Tuesday condemned as “hostile and utterly unjustified” an Iranian ballistic missile attack on a Kurdish Peshmerga base in Erbil province that killed six, stressing that Kurdistan must be kept out of the war. 

An Iranian ballistic missile attack on the Peshmerga's bases in Erbil province’s Soran administration early Tuesday killed at least six Peshmerga and injured 30 others, the Peshmerga ministry announced.

“The attack is hostile and utterly unjustified. This is the umpteenth time that such attacks have been carried out against the Kurdistan Region without regard to the principles of neighborliness and international law,” President Barzani said in a statement.

Barzani, who is also the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), stressed the necessity for the Kurdistan Region to be kept out of the US-Israeli war on Iran. 

“The Kurdistan Region has not been part of the current war in the region and has never been a threat to its neighbors,” the Kurdish leader asserted. 

The Peshmerga ministry wrote in a statement that a force of the 5th Infantry Division of the Peshmerga forces in Soran and the headquarters of the 7th Infantry Division of Area Command 1 “were subjected to an attack by six Iranian ballistic missiles.”

The ministry labeled the strike a “terrorist attack,” describing it as “a hostile act and treachery and far from all humanitarian and neighborly behavior.”

No party has claimed responsibility for the Tuesday attack as of the time of writing this article.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the Region’s President Nechirvan Barzani also condemned the attack on Tuesday, calling on the Iraqi government to ensure the prevention of such attacks. 

Pro-Iran Iraqi militias have claimed dozens of attacks on the Kurdistan Region, including multiple strikes on Peshmerga bases, since the start of the Iran war, under the pretext of targeting American positions.

Many of the Iran-backed factions responsible for the attacks enjoy legal status within Iraq due to their official incorporation into the state security apparatus as part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).