ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) said Wednesday that they have arrested a prominent member of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the disputed Kirkuk province as security forces intensify security operations against the militant group.
The federal anti-terror agency executed the operation based on a “warrant issued against him [the suspect] by the competent investigating judge,” their statement read.
ICTS said it would continue conducting “qualitative operations” to track down wanted ISIS members and remnants.
The statement comes as the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) on Sunday conducted a “search and raid” operation in Hawija, located to the south of Kirkuk province, to pursue ISIS sleeper cells in the region.
The PMF also launched a “search and raid” operation in the neighboring Salahaddin province on Tuesday in coordination with Iraqi federal and local police. The joint operation targeted areas to the south of Samara city and the outskirts of Dujail district for a total of 160 square kilometers.
The operation was to “resolve security gaps,” commander of PMF’s 43rd brigade Mufid Mohammed Ali told state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA).
“The participating forces are employing modern methods for inspection and reconnaissance, including the use of drones, while maintaining continuous coordination with the intelligence cell to exchange information and monitor security developments,” Ali said.
PMF hasn’t disclosed the results of its security Tuesday security operation as of the writing of this report.
In late October, the PMF said ISIS “targeted a thermal imaging camera” in an attack that the PMF said it successfully thwarted.
ISIS and its remnants have continued posing a security threat despite their territorial defeat in late 2017. Their primary areas of operations include the disputed territories, particularly Kirkuk, Salahaddin, Diyala, and Nineveh, exploiting a coordination gap between Kurdish and Iraqi security forces.
In early October, a group of “unidentified gunmen” attacked a PMF checkpoint in Hawija district, killing one and injuring three other members. The attack came weeks after another PMF member was killed and another was wounded in what the organization described as a "terrorist attack" in Kirkuk.
Mazen Gharib, a lawmaker from the Iraqi parliament security and defense committee, told Rudaw at the time that movement of ISIS militants and Hawija and Daquq “have increased, and they even have active detachments.”
“In the areas of Sargaran, Daquq, and Tuz Khurmatu, there is a gap 170 kilometers long and 8 to 10 kilometers wide,” Gharib said, warning that reedbeds and valleys provide concealment for militants and fugitives wanted for serious crimes.
