Kurdish forces capture 'major' ISIS militant in Diyala

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish security forces announced on Monday the capture of a  major Islamic State (ISIS) militant near Kifri  in the Kurdistan Region’s Garmiyan area. 

"Yesterday our Asayesh (security) forces near Nawjul managed to capture a major terrorist who is known as Abu Haris al-Diyala," Osman Abdulkarim, spokesperson of Garmiyan Asayesh  told reporters in a press conference on Monday.

Nawjul sub-district is controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)  but lies in Diyala province, disputed between Baghdad and Erbil. 

"Abu Haris has taken part in many battles along Daesh ranks in Kirkuk including attacks against Peshmerga forces and Hashd al-Shaabi near North Oil Company," he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

"This terrorist has taken part in special training missions with Daesh to carry out acts of terror against coalition forces and Peshmerga in Kirkuk province," Abdulkarim added.

The fugitive comes from a family with several links to the terrorist group, with two brothers killed as fighters and another – said to be an ISIS emir- arrested in Qara Tapa several months ago.

Disputed areas of Diyala province as well as southernmost areas of Garmiyan region  have often been the target of ISIS militants' hit-and-run activities.

The group's militants have recently turned to kidnapping activities.

On Friday and Saturday nights ISIS suspects kidnapped nine civilians, including two Kurds and seven Arabs near Tuz Khurmatu and Qaratapa, both in Diyala province. 

The ongoing dispute over territorial control and lack of communication between Kurdish and Iraqi security forces has led to a security vacuum in contested territories along the border of the Kurdistan Region.

ISIS took control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, including some Kurdish areas. Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga overcame the militant group with the support of the US-led Global Coalition, declaring them defeated in Iraq in December 2017.

However, the group continues to maintain an active presence in Iraq, particularly in the disputed territories, carrying out hit-and-run attacks against security forces, abductions of civilians and officials, and bombings in populated areas.

James Jeffrey, the US special envoy to the anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition announced on January 30 that ISIS is making a comeback.

"We are seeing ISIS come back as an insurgency, as a terrorist operation, with some 14- to 18,000 terrorists between Syria and Iraq," Jeffery warned. "ISIS considers both countries – as they have always done- as a single front."

Jeffery said that they were working with the Iraqi government and  Syrian local authorities  to "combat this scourge."