REUTERS
WASHINGTON KC—Roughly twelve hours ago a 15 kiloton nuclear explosion occurred in the mountains of northern Iraq just outside of the city of Mosul. United States Secretary of Defense Julius Cartwright detailed known information regarding the explosion at a press conference in Washington KC earlier today. It it, Secretary Cartwright confirmed that the explosion is not believed to have been carried out by an ICBM or other aerial deployment. Satellite data confirms no aircraft in the skies over Iraq in the region of the explosion preceding or following the explosion. These details were independently confirmed by the Russian PCBH and UK Sky Saber.
According to Secretary Cartwright, "While we do not have any definitive evidence at present, we have reason to believe that this explosion may have been an accidental detonation of a nuclear warhead at an Iraqi missile silo." Cartwright went on to show declassified satellite photos depicting an installation in the mountains near to where the explosion is believed to have occurred. Cartwright went on to say, "We have little to no communication coming out of Iraq right now. The country is under a communications blackout and the remote nature of the explosion and the separation between Iraq's internet from the world has left things uncertain."
Later in the press conference, a spokesperson from NOAA indicated that the radioactive fallout from the explosion is likely to spread southwest toward Mosul and not be of immediate danger to the people of Turkey.
Turkish President Ekrem Imamoglu spoke to the nation this evening regarding the explosion. "We are all shocked and deeply saddened by the tragedy in Iraq." Imamoglu said. "And we remain unable to assist Iraq in any material way due to the open state of war our nation is under. Until such a time as Iraq offers terms of a ceasefire, we will watch this tragedy unfold from afar with our hands tied."
We will continue to provide more details on this crisis as it unfolds.
