ISIS suspects plotting suicide attack arrested in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two Islamic State (ISIS) suspects, who were plotting to carry out a suicide attack during the month of Ramadan, were arrested by Iraqi and Kurdish security forces in Kirkuk on Tuesday, a top security official announced on Tuesday without disclosing the target of the offense.

In coordination with Sulaimani’s internal security forces (Asayish), the Iraqi forces arrested three ISIS suspects in Kirkuk, Iraq's top military spokesperson Yehia Rasool said in a series of tweets.

The two suicide bombers of non-Iraqi nationality were arrested inside the governorate after they crossed into Iraqi territory.

Another suspect, an Iraqi, alleged of smuggling the two was also arrested, according to Rasool.

ISIS seized control of swaths of land in Iraq in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but has continued to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.

The militants have taken shelter in a security vacuum in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, stretching across several provinces including Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala. Erbil and Baghdad are in protracted talks to cooperate in these areas.

Dozens of ISIS suspects have been arrested across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region since last summer.

Two highly sought members were arrested in Kirkuk in early January, two days after three suspects of the terror group were arrested near Erbil.

Several other ISIS suspects, including a health worker, were arrested in Kirkuk in December.

In its propaganda magazine on Thursday, ISIS claimed to have conducted 14 attacks in Iraq from March 3 to March 9, killing and injuring 11 people.

Updated at 5:57 pm