Displaced Iraqi children who fled their homes along with their families due to attacks by the Islamic State (IS) group play at the Harsham refugee camp, west of Erbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, on Monday. Iraq declared victory over IS in December 2017. Photo: AFP

A dozen ballistic missiles launched from outside Iraq struck the country's northern Kurdish regional capital Erbil on Sunday, Kurdish officials said, adding there were no casualties.

The attack was launched from Iran, a US official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide further information.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility or further details available. A US State Department spokesperson called it an "outrageous attack" but said no Americans were hurt and there was no damage to US government facilities in Erbil.

Iraqi state TV quoted the Kurdistan region's counter-terrorism force as saying 12 missiles launched from outside Iraq hit Erbil. It was not immediately clear where they landed.

US forces stationed at Erbil's international airport complex have in the past come under fire from rocket and drone attacks that US officials blame on Iran-aligned militia groups, but no such attacks have occurred for several months.

The last time ballistic missiles were directed at US forces was in January 2020 - an Iranian retaliation for the US killing earlier in January of its military commander Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport.

No US personnel were killed in the 2020 attack but many suffered head injuries.

Iraq and neighboring Syria are regularly the scene of violence between the US and Iran. Iran-backed Shi'ite Islamist militias have attacked US forces in both countries and Washington has on occasion retaliated with air strikes.

An Israeli air strike in Syria on March 7 killed two members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iranian state media said this week. The IRGC vowed to retaliate, it said.

Kurdish officials did not immediately say where the missiles struck. A spokesperson for the regional authorities said there were no flight interruptions at Erbil airport.

Residents of Erbil posted videos online showing several large explosions, and some said the blasts shook their homes. Reuters could not independently verify those videos.

Iraq has been rocked by chronic instability since the defeat of the Sunni Islamist group Islamic State in 2017 by a loose coalition of Iraqi, US-led and Iran-backed forces.

Since then, Iran-aligned militias have regularly attacked US military and diplomatic sites in Iraq, US and many Iraqi officials say. Iran denies involvement in those attacks.

Reuters