By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Drones struck oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday, with officials pointing to Iran-backed militias as the likely source of attacks this week that have slashed the region's oil output by more than half.

Tankers could soon be lifting Iraqi oil from the Turkish port of Ceyhan once again as a key pipeline reopens. The government said exports will resume from Kurdistan despite four days of mysterious drone attacks on oil fields that have shut down half of the region's production.

“The drone attacks in Kurdish energy sites grew out of a sequence of drone attacks since 19 June on Kurdish security forces, where Iraqi militias were claiming that Kurdistan was supporting Israeli and US strikes on Iran,” Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, told MEE.