Iraq foils cross-border drone plot

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi security forces arrested three members of an armed faction allegedly preparing drone attacks outside the country, government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said on Saturday, adding that the suspects had links to Iranian figures involved in drone operations.

Al-Aboudi told Iraq's Al-Rasheed television that the Counter-Terrorism Service and Iraqi National Intelligence Service had infiltrated the cell before raiding it on Friday, seizing advanced drones and other equipment.

He did not identify the armed faction, the Iranian figures allegedly linked to the cell, or the intended targets of the planned attacks.

Iraqi forces were placed on heightened alert nationwide. Authorities ordered intensified inspections at checkpoints on Friday, a day after security and military units were instructed to raise their readiness levels. The heightened security measures come amid regional tensions involving Iraqi armed factions, some of which have threatened retaliation against Saudi Arabia over recent strikes on Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) sites.

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