ISIS leaders killed, arrested in Diyala

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two Islamic State (ISIS) leaders were killed and another was arrested in operations in Diyala province, the Iraqi Security Media Cell said on Monday.

Two ISIS leaders were killed in northeastern Diyala and another, who was responsible for logistical support for the terror group, was arrested, the cell said in a tweet.

Operations to clear the area of ISIS remnants continue, it added.

The terror group seized control of swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019, but ISIS sleeper cells are particularly active in parts of northern and western Iraq that are disputed by Erbil and Baghdad, including in the provinces of Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahaddin.

The group has carried out around 134 attacks in the disputed territories, which include Diyala, since the beginning of the year, the secretary-general of the peshmerga ministry told Rudaw on Monday.

In early May, two members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al Shaabi) and one Peshmerga fighter died in separate ISIS attacks in Diyala.

The attack raised concerns of ISIS regaining its strength in Iraq and the Region.

“Daesh is now a force, a force dangerous for the region,” a Peshmerga official told Rudaw shortly after, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. 

However, the group remains active in areas of Baghdad as well, especially in its northern Tarmiyah district where Iraqi forces launched an anti-ISIS operation earlier this month.

The operation has achieved great results, the spokesperson for the command, Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji told state media on Monday, noting that ISIS members have been arrested and their hideouts have been destroyed.

“Security operations will be launched in areas that are in a similar condition as Tarmiyah,” he added.

Tarmiyah is vulnerable to ISIS attacks, with four soldiers killed in an IED explosion in the district in May. A security source blamed the attack on the terror group.

In its weekly propaganda newspaper al-Naba, ISIS claimed on Thursday it had conducted 17 attacks in Iraq between August 19 and August 25, killing and injuring 40 people.