ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Joint operations resulted in the arrest of two alleged members of the Islamic State (ISIS) and the destruction of five hide-outs, the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) said on Friday, amid increased efforts to track down “remnants” of the terrorist group.
“The Counter-Terrorism Service, in coordination with the Iraqi National Intelligence Service and the General Directorate for Counter-Terrorism in Sulaimani, managed to arrest one of the members affiliated with the ISIS terrorist gangs in Sulaimani Governorate,” reported the ICTS.
In a separate incident, the Counter terrorism forces “carried out a search operation in Kirkuk Governorate which resulted in the destruction of (5) hideouts of the remnants of the defeated ISIS terrorist gangs” as well as the arrest of a second individual, they said.
The arrest comes as Kurdistan Region security forces and the ICTS have recently increased coordinated operations to track down ISIS sleeper cells and operatives.
Although ISIS was territorially defeated in Iraq in late 2017, remnants of the group have resumed operations through sleeper cells.
Joint operations earlier in July led to the arrest of two ISIS operatives in Sulaimani province in separate operations, in which local Asayish forces rescued the family members of one of the militants who were held captive.
This follows an incident in late June in which Sulaimani’s Asayish forces and Iraqi counter-terrorism units arrested three ISIS militants in Sulaimani, including one coined the “general explosives official,” as well as the arrests of nine other suspects earlier in May.
According to Sulaimani’s local Asayish forces, a total of 298 anti-terror operations were carried out in 2025, resulting in the arrest of 716 terror suspects.
