Kirkuk police break up secret ISIS cell

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Kirkuk police broke up and arrested members of an Islamic State (ISIS) cell who had plans to carry out bombings in the city and the Kurdistan Region, the police said Wednesday.

Chief of Kirkuk suburbs police Brig. Sarhad Qadir told Rudaw that members of the secret cell had previously been linked to the al-Qaeda.

“The cell consisted of four ISIS militants and for two weeks we had information about their entrance into Kirkuk,” Brig. Qadir said.

The militants were arrested in a police operation in city the center.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces and police maintain miles of defense lines south of Kirkuk and have in the last several months foiled several ISIS attempts to reach the city.