Iraqi counter-terrorism forces arrest high-ranking ISIS official in Fallujah

19-01-2020
Lawk Ghafuri
Lawk Ghafuri
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi counter terrorism forces (ICTS)  announced on Sunday that they captured a high-ranking Islamic State (ISIS)  security official in  Fallujah, while at least one  Iraqi soldier was killed by an ISIS attack in south of Kirkuk on Saturday.

Iraqi counter terrorism forces announced in a tweet on Sunday that the unnamed ISIS security official for Fallujah was arrested in the city itself. 

The arrest follows the capture of a senior ISIS mufti in Mosul’s Mansour neighbourhood, announced by the Media Cell on Thursday. 

The ISIS mufti, Shifa al-Nima, was responsible for issuing  several brutal fatwas calling for fighting against the Iraqi  army, blowing up Mosul’s Prophet Yunus mosque  and the killing of academics and clerics who refused to join the terror group.

ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi territory in summer 2014 and  was declared defeated in December 2017 after an international military  campaign against the group.

Though they no longer control territory, ISIS  militants remain a security threat, especially in areas that are  disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.

The Iraqi Security Media Cell also revealed on Saturday that one Iraqi  soldier had been killed after ISIS militants attacked an army checkpoint in southern Kirkuk.

“Members of the ISIS terrorist attacked a checkpoint point belonging  to the 1st Company of the 3rd Regiment in the 45th brigade in the  Iraqi army, in the area of Tal Al-Deeb in the province of Kirkuk,  which led to the martyrdom of one of the soldiers from the 3rd  Regiment.” Iraqi Security Media Cell tweeted

Kirkuk has seen a spate of ISIS attacks in recent months, with sleeper cell offensives killing both civilians and military personnel.

Worries of an ISIS resurgence have grown following calls for the expulsion of foreign troops from Iraq. 

In the wake of increased tensions between the US and Iran after the US  assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in the first week of January, the Coalition temporarily suspended its counter-ISIS and  training missions in Iraq to focus on force protection. 

Shiite blocs in the Iraqi Parliament, outraged at the lack of respect for their  country's sovereignty, also passed a non-binding resolution calling for the  expulsion of all foreign troops in Iraq.

The United States rejected a request from caretaker Prime Minister  Adel Abdul-Mahdi to start withdrawing troops from Iraq, and announced  on Wednesday that the coalition would resume joint operations against  ISIS in Iraq.  However, a later press release quoted coalition spokesperson Colonel Myles B. Caggins III as indicating that the  mission to train local forces “remains paused.” 

 

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