ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s security media cell on Thursday announced the arrest of a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militant in Sulaimani involved in the group’s infamous Camp Speicher massacre nearly 10 years ago. On June 12, 2014, around 1,700 Shiite cadets undergoing training at Camp Speicher in Salahaddin’s Tikrit were executed by ISIS militants, who had initially promised them safe passage. Abdul Khaliq Khazal Sultan had joined ISIS in 2013 and was one of the executioners in the 2014 massacre. The suspect had also participated in several other operations targeting members of the security forces in Salahaddin and Nineveh, according to the statement. He was arrested as a result of a joint operation between the Iraqi intelligence service and the Sulaimani counterterrorism forces and has been handed over to the relevant authorities, the cell reported. Four other suspects were also arrested in Nineveh after reportedly confessing to being members of militant groups linked to ISIS. The Camp Speicher Massacre is one of ISIS’ most brutal crimes in Iraq. The United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL (UNITAD) said on June 2021 that there was “clear and convincing evidence” that the massacre “constituted a number of war crimes under international law.” Dozens accused of taking part in the massacre have already been executed. 31 men were executed for their alleged involvement in the massacre on January 2017.
