ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraqi Counter Terrorism Services (ICTS) arrested eight suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members in a series of operations on Tuesday, including two in the Kurdistan Region’s Halabja province.
“The ICTS continues its efforts to chase the remnants of ISIS, carried out a series of operations, one of which was in the Kurdistan Region, where in cooperation with Sulaimani brigade were able to arrest two targets,” read a statement from Yehia Rasool, spokesperson for PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi as the commander-in-chief of Iraq’s armed forces.
Rudaw tried to reach out to Halabja's asayish and Rasool, but they were not available for comment.
Although the Iraqi government announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in December 2017, remnants of the group have returned to earlier insurgency tactics, ambushing security forces, kidnapping and executing suspected informants, extorting money from vulnerable rural populations, and carrying out bomb attacks.
ISIS remnants in Iraq are most active in territory disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, notably in the northern provinces of Salahaddin, Diyala, and Kirkuk. The Kurdistan Region is generally considered to be more secure, but still occasionally faces terrorist threats.
Two Kurdish security force members were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted under an ISIS flag exploded in Said Sadiq district roughly 25 kilometers north of Halabja in January.
Kurdistan Region security forces announced in February the arrests of 10 people in connection with the bombing, and released what appears to be video confessions of the suspects.
The statement from Rasool added that they have arrested two ISIS members in Makhmour and Shirqat, along with the arrest of a terrorist by the name of “Abu Yasser” and one of his companions in Baghdad’s al-Dora neighborhood, as well as another terrorism suspect in western Baghdad.
This comes at a time where ISIS propaganda telegram channel on Tuesday said they had attacked a regiment commander North of Baghdad, injuring him and two of his companions.
In its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba, ISIS claimed on Thursday it had conducted 17 attacks across Iraq from March 11th to 17th, killing and injuring 25 people.
Rasool in February warned of the ongoing threat of ISIS, especially in disputed areas with security vacuums.
"An important point is that there are kilometers where there is no security force from neither Iraq nor the Kurdistan Region, and it has become a hotspot for ISIS,” he said in a roundtable discussion held by Rudaw research center on February 19.
The Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs secretary general warned in February that ISIS is still a major threat.
“We have said this many times. ISIS is still a threat to the region because of the terrorist attacks they conduct,” Jabar Yawar told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on February 9. “What ISIS lost in 2017 when then-Prime Minister of Iraq Haidar al-Abadi announced their defeat, was only their alleged caliphate, but ISIS is still out there conducting attacks.”
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