ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi security forces on Monday announced the arrest of three suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members in the northwestern Nineveh province. The military intelligence directorate of the Iraqi security forces said in a statement that they carried out two separate anti-ISIS operations in Nineveh province. “These operations led to the arrest of three terrorists wanted by the Iraqi… in the towns of Zummar and Rabia, west of Nineveh province. The detainees were identified as members of the terrorist organization ISIS and were handed over to the relevant authorities in accordance with proper procedures,” read the statement from the security forces. ISIS was in control of swathes of Iraqi territory at its height in 2014. The Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga fought to retake areas of the country controlled by the extremists and declared the territorial defeat of ISIS in 2017. The United States-led global coalition provided both forces with air and ground support, as well as training and equipment. Iraqi officials have said that the threat from the terror group is contained, but the armed forces continue to carry out regular operations against suspected militants. On Saturday, Iraqi army announced that its fighter jets killed five suspected ISIS members in a strike on the group’s hideout in Kirkuk province. Last week, ISIS planted an improvised explosive device on a road in the Tuz Khurmatu district of Salahaddin province that exploded, killing three members of a joint Kurdish-Iraqi brigade. The American and British consulates in Erbil condemned the attack and repeated their support for Erbil and Baghdad in the fight against the extremist group.
