Drone Strike Halts Khor Mor Gas Production, Cuts Off Northern Iraq’s Power Supply

The strike left more than 70 percent of northern Iraq’s Kurdish region without power.

Published On 9 Nov 2026

A drone attack on the Khor Mor gas field in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq caused a fire at the facility and disrupted power supply, according to Iraqi and Kurdish officials.

The Sunday night attack left more than 70 percent of the Kurdish region without power.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strike or whether it was connected to the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.

Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency, Sanad, said it had verified footage of smoke and flames rising from the vicinity of the gas field in the Sulaimaniyah governorate.

Omid Ahmed, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Electricity, said the attack suspended gas supply to power plants in the cities of Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

He said the strike knocked between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts of electricity generation offline.

He added that the ministry would provide electricity to critical facilities, such as hospitals and water treatment plants, by operating hydroelectric power stations and other plants that run on alternative fuel.

Al Jazeera’s Peter Smith, reporting from Baghdad, cited security sources as saying the explosive-laden drone struck the Khor Mor gas storage facility, reducing the energy grid’s capacity by 70 to 80 percent.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said there were no casualties as a result of the attack, based on an initial assessment, the INA reported.

He also directed that a joint investigative committee be formed with the relevant authorities in the Kurdish region to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack, the INA reported.

The attack comes amid heightened regional tensions. A drone strike hit the same facility last year, with no group having claimed responsibility.

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