Rockets land near Kar Group oil refinery in Erbil

Several Katyusha rockets late Wednesday landed near an oil refinery in the Khabat district of Erbil, the capital city of the Iraqi Kurdistan region without causing casualties, the region's counter-terrorism unit said.  

"Three rockets were directed to Erbil city and landed near Kawrgosk oil refinery, and caused no casualties. The rockets were launched from areas near Hamdaniya town (West of Erbil)," the Kurdistan Region's Directorate General of Counter-Terrorism (CTD) said on its official Facebook page.

The Kawergosk oil refinery is one of the largest refineries in the Kurdistan Region and lies in the Khabat district west of Erbil. The refinery is run by Kar Group, a Kurdish oil company, reported K24, an outlet close to Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

No one has taken responsibility for the attack as of yet, but CTD's statement suggests that the culprits may have been pro-Iran Shia militias stationed in the town of Hamdaniya in the Nineveh province.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said last month that it was responsible for launching 12 ballistic missiles on several targets in Erbil, including the residence target of Baz Karim Barzinji, CEO and founder of Kar Group.  

Political observers see Iran's missile attack in the last month, as well as Wednesday night's attack, as an attempt to derail Kurdish authorities from developing plans to export gas to Turkey and Europe.   

"We are one of the regions that are flourishing and are trying to become a main player to provide energy, not just to the region, but hopefully to Europe and the rest of the world as we discover more oil and gas fields....this is something that may not be in the interest of the Iranians," PM Barzani told a plenary session at the World Government Forum in Dubai on March 29.