ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi security forces on Tuesday announced the arrest of seven Islamic State (ISIS) suspects in four provinces, including the capital city of Baghdad.
The Security Media Cell said in a statement that the country’s intelligence forces carried out raids against some wanted ISIS suspects in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Nineveh and Anbar provinces, arresting seven.
The raids “resulted in the arrest of seven terrorists. They are wanted by the Iraqi judiciary in accordance with the provisions of Article (4/Terrorism),” read the statement.
“They belonged to criminal terrorist gangs and had previously targeted the Iraqi security forces,” it added.
Kirkuk police on Sunday arrested a suspected member of ISIS believed to be behind the recent killing of a police officer in the city, a security source said.
Unidentified assailants shot and killed a police officer, Shwana Tahir, in a Kirkuk bazaar on Thursday, injuring one of his colleagues and a woman. Security forces blamed ISIS for the attack at the time, and the group claimed responsibility for the assault on Saturday.
A source from Kirkuk police, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Rudaw on Monday that they had arrested one of the members of the group who killed the police officer, adding that the suspected member of ISIS is neither of the two who appear on CCTV during the incident.
ISIS, which seized control of significant parts of Iraqi territory in 2014, was declared territorially defeated in 2017. The defeat occurred as Iraqi and Kurdish forces, with support from a US-led international coalition, reclaimed territories previously held by the jihadist group.
