(Previous Incident Code: ISIRQ260321a )

On Saturday, 21 March 2026, a number of people, including children, were reported injured by a drone in the Al-Siddiq neighbourhood of Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad, Iraq. Sources identified the victims as Ali Hamid Sharyan al-Samili, and two of his sons, who were not named. At least one son was a child, as evidenced by his image from a hospital.

Most sources reported that the incident was caused by a drone “crashing” into the house of the Al-Samili family. Facebook account ‘The beloved Al-Samilis’ described the drone as hitting the Al-Samili family home in “Al-Siddiq neighborhood of Abu Ghraib district, near Victoria base.”

Facebook accounts ‘Abu Ghraib Region’, ‘Al-Karkh Intellectuals and Youth Gathering’, ‘Al-Fallujah Channel’, and ‘Al Baghdadia TV / Al Baghdadia TV’, as well as Al Jazeera (via Twitter/X), identified the aircraft as a drone. @AJABreaking was the earliest source found by researchers to have reported on this incident, at 3:29 p.m., meaning the strike happened before this time.

Sources differed slightly regarding the number of injured. Al Jazeera reported that two people had been injured, not three. Two photographs posted by several sources show a man with wound dressings on his abdomen and a child with wound dressing along his leg. Facebook account ‘Al-Similat, my city’ shared the same photos and wrote that “we wish safety to the family of (Ali Hamed Sharyan Al-Samili) after a drone crashed into their home, injuring him and two of his sons.” Another Facebook account, Al-Fallujah Channel, posted an additional photo showing the same man in a wheelchair, and the child lying on a bed, being attended to by several people.

Shafaq News- Baghdad reported that two unidentified explosive-laden drones crashed in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad,  injuring two civilians. According to the media, initial assessments suggested the drones may have suffered a technical malfunction while flying over the capital, causing them to lose control and fall before reaching their intended targets. None of the available sources attributed the strike to a particular belligerent. Hence, Airwars grade the strike status as “contested.”