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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraqi forces arrested five Islamic State (ISIS), including a health worker that has admitted to treating ill and wounded members of the militant group, Iraqi Security Media Cell said on Thursday.
Five people were arrested "for their affiliation with ISIS terrorists" in an operation carried out by the Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency in the Ministry of Interior, read a statement from the cell, published on their Telegram channel.
Four of the suspects worked in the terror group's ranks in Kirkuk, partaking in several attacks while the fifth was an employee at the Iraqi health ministry.
The health worker admitted to treating sick and injured ISIS members, "as well as providing them with medicines and medical equipment, taking advantage of his position at the health ministry," noted the statement.
ISIS seized control of swaths of land in Iraq in 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in 2017, but it remains a serious security threat.
Multiple ISIS suspects have recently been arrested across Iraq.
Security forces arrested a group affiliated with ISIS in the Kurdish capital on Saturday. Two ISIS arms smugglers were also captured in Erbil last week.
The arrests followed a surge in ISIS attacks against the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, exploiting the security vacuum in territories disputed between Baghdad and Erbil.
Earlier this month, the group attacked the Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk, resulting in deaths and injuries. ISIS has killed 22 Kurdish fighters since November 27.
Two Iraqi soldiers were also killed in an ISIS attack in Kirkuk.
Kurdish and Iraqi officials held a high-level security meeting to ramp up cooperation in disputed areas.
In its propaganda magazine on Thursday, ISIS claimed to have conducted 9 attacks in Iraq from December 9 to December 15, killing and injuring 25 people.
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