ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region's security agency (Asayish) on Tuesday announced the arrest of seven Islamic State (ISIS) members wanted by Baghdad under the federal anti-terrorism law.
The suspects were described as "active members" of ISIS who "were hiding in [the Region’s eastern] Sulaimani province and its surrounding areas," the Asayish said in a statement, citing "precise intelligence" for the arrests.
The detainees were handed over to federal authorities on Tuesday, "based on territorial jurisdiction to complete investigative procedures," the statement added.
ISIS suspects are charged under Article 4 of Iraq's anti-terrorism law, which covers punishments for committing, supporting, or concealing acts of terrorism.
The first clause of the Article imposes a death sentence on any "principal actor or an accomplice" who "instigates, plans, finances, or enables" terrorist acts, while the second prescribes life imprisonment for anyone who "intentionally conceals any terrorist act or harbors a terrorist individual with the intent of shielding them."
In late July, Sulaimani's Asayish arrested four ISIS suspects in two separate operations.
Security forces in the province had also arrested three suspects in June and nine in May.
Moreover, the Sulaimani Asayish said it carried out 298 anti-terror operations in 2025, resulting in 716 arrests.
Although territorially defeated in Iraq in late 2017, ISIS has continued operating through sleeper cells, particularly in security vacuums in the disputed areas of Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Salahaddin provinces. Erbil and Baghdad have stepped up coordination in recent years to crack down on sleeper cells in those areas.
