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A picture taken on March 14, 2017 in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul shows a drone carrying two grenades flying in a test flight by Iraqi forces which aim to use it against Islamic State militants.(Photo: Aris Messinis, AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Iraqs military has turned the tables on the Islamic States drone tactics by improvising itsown unmanned aircraft to drop grenades and other small munitions on the militantsin the key battle for Mosul, U.S. officials say.

The development comes as the threat from Islamic Statedroneshas been effectively neutralized with the help of U.S. and coalition forces, which rushed counter-drone technology to the battle for the city.

Earlier this year Mosul became a proving ground for the emerging threat of cheap drones used by terror groups. The militants were using the small unmanned aircraft for both attacks and surveillance.

At the peak in February, the Islamic State deployed 10to 15 drones a day against Iraqi security forces as they fought to clear militants from Mosul, said Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a military spokesman in Baghdad.

The number of militant drones is now down to about one or two a day, principally for surveillance, he said. During the past two weeks there have been no recorded incidents of militants using an armed drone in Iraq or Syria, according to coalition military statistics.

The militants use of drones in Mosul highlighted the danger commercial drones have in the hands of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

Theyve actually gone to almost swarm-level capability in a couple of cases, Lt. Gen. Michael Lundy, commander of the Combined Arms Center, said last month. The Army has been studying the militants' use of drones in Mosul to counter the threat in the future.

Its a serious concern, said Seth Jones, a counterterrorism expert at RANDCorp. A range of terror organizations are able to buy off-the-shelf drones and use them against the United States and its allies.

Jones said terror groups are likely looking for ways to put larger munitions on the drones. In Iraq and Syria, the militants mostly used small grenade-sized munitions or mortar shellson drones.

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Even the smaller munitions can be deadly. In October a drone with an explosive hidden in it killed two Kurdish soldiers and injured two French Special Forces advisers who were with them. The explosive was detonated after the drone had been downed by Kurdish forces.

Iraqi forces have not released data on how many deaths or injuries have been caused by drones. No U.S. forces have been injured by drones in Iraq or Syria.

Their main benefit is surveillance, particularly in a crowded city like Mosul. The small aircraft, which have a range of several miles, can maneuver through tight streets and alleys to see what lies ahead. Iraqi forces now usethem to identify militant snipers, which have been a significant threat in western Mosul.

The militants have no way of blunting the use of drones by Iraqi forces. The enemy doesnt have any anti-drone technology other than try to blaze away at the drones, Dorrian said.

The small quad copters and other small commercial aircraft dont compare to the level of sophistication and firepower of U.S. Predators and Reapers, which can stay in the skyfor long periods of time and fire weapons with precision.

The militants have been indiscriminate in their use of drones, the U.S. military said. They just dropped (munitions) and they didnt care who they dropped it on, said Marine Brig. Gen. Rick Uribe, director of the Combined Joint Operations Center-Baghdad.

But the weaponized drones have captured headlines, producing a propaganda benefit for ISIS. Its more of a psychological effect than anything else, said Patrick Martin, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.

Read more:

Iraqi troops capture largest neighborhood in western Mosul

This Iraqi sniper picks off ISIS fighters as they hide behind human shields

Iraqi residents worry about rebuilding after ISIS is gone

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Iraqi forces now attacking ISIS militants with drones in Mosul - USA TODAY

ANKARA

Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Wednesday and killed six militants, the military said, in a second day of cross-border raids.

A military statement said the air strikes targeted the Zap region, the Turkish name for a river which flows across the Turkish-Iraqi border and is known as Zab in Iraq.

The air strikes hit "two hiding places and one shelter, and killed six separatist terrorist organization militants who were understood to be preparing an attack," the statement said.

The raids were part of a widening campaign against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has also hit other Kurdish fighters inside Iraq - apparently by accident.

On Tuesday, Turkish planes bombed Kurdish targets in Iraq's Sinjar region and northeast Syria, killing about 70 militants inside the two neighboring states, according to a Turkish military statement.

The United States expressed "deep concern" over those air strikes and said they were not authorized by the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State.

Five members of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, which are also deployed in Sinjar, were killed. Kurdish authorities who run their own autonomous region in north Iraq enjoy good relation with Turkey and, like Ankara, oppose the presence of a PKK affiliate in Sinjar.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday told Reuters that he would not allow Sinjar to become a PKK base, adding that Ankara informed its partners including the United States, Russia and Iraqi Kurdish authorities ahead of the operation.

On Wednesday, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said the parties were informed through both military and diplomatic channels.

Turkey had passed on information to the United States and Russian military attaches in Ankara, Muftuoglu said, and Turkish army chief Hulusi Akar also held a telephone conversation with his U.S. and Russian counterparts.

The Combined Air Operations Center in Qatar, responsible for providing command and air control in regions including Iraq and Syria, was also informed in advance, Muftuoglu said.

Designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the PKK has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state for Kurdish autonomy. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, most of them Kurds.

The army also reported on Wednesday cross-border mortar fire from two areas inside Syria -- one believed to be under the control of Syrian government forces and the other by Kurdish YPG militants. It said there were no casualties, and it retaliated.

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Turkish Warplanes Kill 6 Kurdish Militants in Northern Iraq: Army - Voice of America

Drone bods DJI has quietly released a series of software updates that geofence off large areas of Iraq and Syria indicating the Chinese firm is covertly helping the US war against Islamic extremists.

The updates, quietly made to DJIs Go app without any public fanfare, will prevent drones made by the firm from flying over large areas of Iraq and Syria. These no-fly zones are in addition to the usual NFZs implemented around airports and military airfields.

They were spotted a couple of days ago by Kevin Finisterre of drone biz Department 13. He told The Register: Id like to think the peer pressure set in.

Others in the drone world along with Finisterre have questioned whether geofencing will really stop Islamic extremists from using drones fitted with cameras as an inexpensive precision aerial strike weapon. A relatively new tactic is to strap a grenade or similar small IED to the drone before dropping it off over the target.

DJI did not respond to emails from us to its press office seeking comment.

The use of consumer-drone technology to harm anyone is deplorable. Any loss of life or injury in such a manner is tragic. Those who carry out such acts should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, said the company in a statement issued last year, following a drone attack that reportedly used one of their products.

A Google Earth map of the updates prepared by Finisterre (available here on Github, 330kB download, right click and save as) shows all of the NFZs implemented by DJI, including the latest ones.

DJI's drone geofences across Iraq and Syria. Google Earth file prepared by Kevin Finisterre

The no-fly zones were implemented between 25 and 27 February. Finisterre points out that at the same time, US-backed Iraqi military units were mounting an offensive into the western Mosul area. NFZs 31 and 38, implemented on 27 February, cover the city of Mosul.

Other NFZs have long existed in DJIs software. Tiananmen Square is one of the notable areas over which amateur DJI users cannot fly their toys. Most US airports are also included in the geofenced areas. A large number of sites in the UK are also fenced off, including prisons, airports, immigration detention centres and Stoke Citys football stadium, among others.

Instructions on how to get around the geofencing can easily be found via your search engine of choice.

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Drone maker DJI quietly made large chunks of Iraq, Syria no-fly zones - The Register

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region Iraq has formed a committee to assess and quantify the actually electricity consumption across the country and implement mechanisms to stop wastage, according to a statement released on the prime ministers website.

The announcement was made during PM Haider al-Abadis regular cabinet meeting held on Tuesday.

Abadi reiterated that his vision is electricity 24 hours per day for Iraqis at a reasonable price in-line with the users consumption, the statement added.

Iraq has attempted to boost its aging power grid which has been affected by decades of war and political instability.

The Council of Ministers announced in a statement its plans for 430 people to be employed at the Wasit Thermal Power Station in the province by the same name near the city of Zubaydea, and awarded 287 related maintenance, transport and distribution contracts.

On Wednesday, Iraqs Minister of Electricity Qasim al-Fahdawi visited Erbil.

In war-torn Mosul, most of the right and left bank areas still have no electricity, according to a recent report by the UN Human Settlements Program.

"While ISIS is retreating, it has booby-trapped many of the important stations with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), including the 400 KV station which supplies 20% of Mosuls energy," the report detailed.

"Other substations are currently mostly out of operation because of a lack of required resources (oil, gas)," it added.

According to the United Nations Development Programme, Iraqi households receive 14.6 hours of electricity daily through public or private generators, and 90 percent of households utilize private generators.

Iraq's peak electricity demand was 2.1 gigawatts in the summer and the grid is only able to supply about 1.3 gigawatts, Reuters reported in April of 2016.

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Iraq seeks to curb energy wastage, boost production, repair destroyed systems - Rudaw

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Iraq considers next move after intercepting 'world's largest' ransom for kidnapped Qataris - The Independent