ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdish and Iraqi forces arrested more than a dozen suspected Islamic State group (ISIS) members, including leaders, in raids across the country.
Kurdish security forces late on Tuesday arrested four ISIS members, including two prominent leaders, in separate operations in Halabja, the Sulaimani’s internal security forces announced on Wednesday. A fifth suspect was arrested in Sulaimani city.
The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) also announced arrests in Anbar and Baghdad.
A terrorist network of six militants was dismantled in Anbar governorate and three others were arrested in Baghdad. One of them, a leader, brought the security forces to a terrorist den south of the capital where the group was storing explosive materials.
The ICTS said they also thwarted an operation to blow up electricity towers northeast of Baghdad, and arrested an ISIS member in Diyala.
Scores of ISIS suspects have been arrested in Iraq in recent months. The "Emir of Baghdad" was picked up in Baghdad in July, five ISIS suspects were arrested planning an attack on Erbil in the same month, and in April, 22 ISIS suspects were arrested in Sulaimani.
ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, but the terror group continues to remain a threat across the country, particularly in areas disputed between Baghdad and Erbil where there is a security vacuum between federal and regional forces. The two sides are working to close that gap, building trust between them by forming joint coordination centres and conducting operations together.
Peshmerga and Iraqi forces now plan to increase their coordination by forming two joint brigades. “The terrorist organization ISIS is increasing its terrorist acts in Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Diyala, Salahaddin, Anbar and western Mosul,” deputy Peshmerga minister Sarbast Lazgin said earlier this month. And “there must be coordination between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army to face the threat.”
In the latest edition of its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba, ISIS claimed it had conducted 22 attacks across Iraq between July 16 and 22, killing and injuring 147 people.
