On August 12, 2026, a loitering munition struck the roof of a residential building in Soran District, Erbil Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan, during an attack involving several loitering munitions launched toward Erbil that day. The warhead partially detonated, causing relatively minor structural damage. A post-impact scene examination recovered the remains of the loitering munition, including central fuselage components, two turbojet engines, a booster rocket, electronics, a fuel tank, and part of the warhead. While the warhead was identified as matching the model documented on Iranian Shahed-131 or Russian Geran-1, the remaining UAV components corresponded to a rarely observed Iranian twin-jet loitering munition whose technical specifications and formal designation remain largely unknown. This incident is notable as it marks one of the first documented operational deployments of this new UAV model in Iraq. Furthermore, it demonstrates the integration of a standard, readily available Iranian warhead onto a UAV that likely offers performance advantages over the legacy Shahed-131.
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