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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) said late Saturday it arrested three Islamic State (ISIS) suspects, including a senior operative responsible for rigging Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), amid ongoing operations to eliminate the group's presence in the country. Kurdish forces were also involved in the operations.
“The heroic forces successfully apprehended one of the most dangerous terrorist elements, known as the head of IEDs of Salahaddin province,” said the ICTS, noting that the suspect was arrested in Sulaimani province in cooperation with the security forces (Asayish).
The operation follows air and ground strikes by Iraqi security forces earlier on Saturday targeting ISIS hideouts in Kirkuk province following five days of intelligence tracking by the Iraqi National Intelligence Service and ICTS. Authorities say the F-16 airstrikes in Dibis district killed another senior militant member.
The ICTS also arrested another two ISIS suspects in Anbar and Mosul provinces, and searched hideouts in Kirkuk province’s Wadi Zaghitun, according to the Saturday statement. The separate operation included “searching of a cluster of mud-brick villages and hideouts belonging to the remnants of the terrorist ISIS.”
ISIS seized large swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq in 2014 before being defeated in 2017 after three years of intense fighting. Despite its defeat, the group continues to pose a security threat, particularly in disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad, spanning the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Salahaddin.
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