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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested an Islamic State (ISIS) assassination squad in al-Hol camp on Monday, according to a statement from the forces.
The men arrested, all Iraqi nationals, were ISIS members who fled from Anbar to Syria in 2017 after liberation operations carried by Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), according to the SDF. They arrived at al-Hol in 2019.
ISIS leaders outside of the camp informed the SDF that the group had assassinated people in al-Hol, it added.
Al-Hol is home to around 61,000 people, mostly women and children with suspected links to ISIS militants. Nearly half the camp’s residents are Iraqis, according to data provided to Rudaw English by Sheikhmus Ahmed, who supervises the administration of Rojava’s IDP and refugee camps.
A number of Iraqis have been killed in the camp this year.
The SDF published confessions in which the men claim to have carried out two successful assassinations, in addition to a third failed attempt.
One man, Masroul Sami, said they assassinated a woman named Ala’a that worked for the SDF intelligence service.
“In the Ala’a operation my supervisor Jarrah called me from a strange number. I was afraid to answer the call, so he sent me a WhatsApp message saying the number belonged to him,” he said, adding that his supervisor lived in Turkey.
“I did it for money, I was poor and alone in the camp with no job,” said Salem Najem.
ISIS controlled swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014 but was territorially defeated in 2017 and 2019 respectively. However, it still remains a threat to both countries, especially in border areas.
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