Iraqi authorities suspect a drone attack caused an explosion at a strategic ammunition depot at Camp Taji military base north of Baghdad in early August, security and intelligence sources said, inflicting extensive damage on stocks of ammunition for Iraqi army tanks and armored vehicles. Authorities had initially attributed the blaze to high temperatures.
Investigators now believe an unidentified drone was flying over the base shortly before an ammunition depot belonging to the 9th Armored Division exploded, destroying large quantities of ammunition for armored vehicles and US-made Abrams tanks, the sources said.
Two officers told Asharq Al-Awsat that investigators reviewed thermal-camera footage from the base showing a flying object approaching from the south shortly before the depot exploded.
“We lost most of our tank ammunition,” one officer said. “The 9th Armored Division now has no stockpile of shells — not even a single round — apart from the ammunition currently inside the tanks.”
Another intelligence officer said the depot was “most likely targeted by a drone.”
Iraq’s official news agency had quoted Defense and Interior Ministry officials on Aug. 2 as saying that high temperatures had caused a fire at an ammunition depot inside Camp Taji.
Although the initial account ruled out an attack, a senior military official told Asharq Al-Awsat that intelligence agencies were conducting a technical investigation to establish the circumstances.
Officials now view the incident as one of several signs that armed factions are attempting to “strip official security institutions of their weapons advantage.”
The targeted depot contained about 50,000 rounds, according to the sources, forming the main ammunition stockpile for one of the Iraqi army’s most important combat divisions. The full extent of the losses remains unclear.
The 9th Armored Division, based in Taji, is one of the army’s principal intervention units. A significant part of its arsenal is US-made, notably Abrams tanks and M113 armored personnel carriers.
Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Iraq recently sought urgent procurement contracts to replenish ammunition shortages, including rounds for US-made tanks and armored vehicles. The request is believed to be linked to losses from the Taji incident.
Neither the Defense Ministry spokesman nor the head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell responded to requests for comment.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Miqdad Miri, however, told a news conference Monday that “any drone launched without authorization will be treated as terrorism,” stressing that “all weapons must be under state control.”
‘Silent Battle’
An intelligence official told Asharq Al-Awsat that preliminary investigations found that an armed group had used a location south of Baghdad to launch the drone toward Taji.
Security and political officials said the attack pointed to efforts by factions resisting disarmament to deprive regular forces of military assets that give them an advantage over irregular groups.
The sources said armed factions were making contingency plans for any confrontation with Iraqi security forces, seeking to eliminate assets — including tank ammunition — that could tip the balance in favor of government forces.
An official in the Coordination Framework said the Iraqi government was engaged in a “silent and sensitive battle with hard-line groups” but wanted to avoid an open confrontation because of the domestic and regional risks.
A political official quoted the leader of an armed faction opposed to the government’s weapons-control plan as saying his group and others were prepared for a military confrontation if the government or the United States used force to disarm them.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has set Sept. 30, 2026, as the deadline for US forces to withdraw from Iraq and for armed factions to place their weapons under state control.
Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Harakat al-Nujaba, all aligned with Iran, continue to reject handing over their weapons. Activists close to the groups say the Axis of Resistance will not disarm even after US forces leave, while some have openly called, in a defiant reversal of the government’s policy, for “the state’s weapons to be placed in the hands of the factions.”
