Khor Mor rocket strike underscores unresolved security problems

SULAIMANIYA - The Khor Mor gas field is offline following a rocket attack on the evening of Nov. 26 — an incident that highlights the ongoing vulnerability of Iraqi Kurdistan’s energy infrastructure to armed groups that continue to operate with impunity.

“The Khor Mor attack caused a total shutdown of the Kurdistan Region’s national electricity grid,” said Sirwan Mohammed, spokesperson for the Sulaymaniyah Directorate of Electricity, in an interview Thursday morning. By 8:50 a.m. local time, he said, the grid was back up but only operating at a fraction of capacity due to a lack of gas feedstock.