ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Global coalition forces intercepted eight bomb-laden drones over Erbil early Friday, the Kurdistan Region's Counterterrorism Directorate said, two days after a similar drone attack targeted the capital.

The drones were downed between 4:19 am and 5:25 am over the Kurdistan Region's capital, the directorate said. “Fortunately, there were no injuries,” it added.

The attack came two days after another eight bomb-laden drones targeted Erbil late Wednesday, marking the first strike on the city since the collapse of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on June 17, although intermittent attacks continued to target Iranian Kurdish opposition groups elsewhere in the Kurdistan Region.

Explosions were also reported over Sulaimani and Halabja provinces early Friday.

The Kurdistan Region Presidency condemned the attacks, calling them “a dangerous development and a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty.”

Following Wednesday's “Iran-enabled drone attacks,” the US Embassy in Baghdad urged American citizens in Iraq to remain on high alert, warning that “travel disruptions and airspace closures could occur on short notice.”

Since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran in late February, the Kurdistan Region, despite maintaining a neutral stance, has come under hundreds of drone and missile attacks targeting civilian infrastructure, energy facilities, and Peshmerga forces. 

The attacks have continued even at times when ceasefire agreements between Washington and Tehran were in effect.

In May, Tehran declared the Kurdistan Region a site of “hostile bases” under its security doctrine, warning that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had been given the same designation, making both subject to preemptive strikes.

That same month, an Iranian ballistic missile strike on a Peshmerga base in Erbil province's Soran administration killed at least six Peshmerga fighters and wounded 30 others. Kurdistan Region leaders strongly condemned the attack.

Despite the repeated strikes, Iran's consul general in Erbil, Faramarz Asadi, told The New Region on Sunday that Tehran has “never” attacked the Kurdistan Region, insisting its strikes have targeted only Iranian Kurdish opposition groups.