Iraqi intelligence forces and Erbil-based Kurdish counterterrorism forces arrested a suspected ISIS operative who was an expert in explosives in the so-called “northern section” of the group, the Iraqi counterterrorism service (ICTS) announced on Facebook.
In two separate operations with the Sulaimani-based Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG), two other alleged ISIS members were arrested in Sulaimani province’s Bazyan and Chamchamal towns.
The ICTS also announced the arrest of another ISIS suspect in Kirkuk.
The arrests come as Iraq ramps up its efforts to pursue ISIS remnants in the country in response to escalating militant activities, particularly in areas disputed between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi land in 2014 but it was declared territorially defeated in 2017 when Kurdish and Iraqi fighters supported by the US-led coalition drove them out of the stretches of land they seized years prior in a brazen offensive.
Despite its territorial defeat, the group continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several Iraqi provinces, particularly those falling in the disputed areas stretching across the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala.
On Sunday, an Iraqi jet delivered an airstrike on a “terrorist hideout” in Kirkuk’s Dibis district, the country’s Security Media Cell said.
On Wednesday, Iraqi intelligence forces announced they had arrested three suspected ISIS members in separate operations in Nineveh and Anbar provinces.
