Iraqi security forces on 27 Sep 2024 arrested nine suspected members of the Islamic State (ISIS) across four provinces, the army said, amid a nationwide hike in anti-ISISIS operations and as Baghdad and Washington arrange to remove US-led coalition troops. The Iraqi army undertook “several preemptive processes that resulted in the arrest of nine terrorists wanted by the Iraqi judiciary according to Article Four in different areas of the Baghdad, Nineveh, Anbar, and Kirkuk provinces,” state media stated, citing a Security Media Cell statement.
Earlier a week ago, Iraqi security forces also arrested nine suspected associates of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Salahaddin province amid a countrywide spike in anti-ISIS procedures, state media reported.
“The intelligence agency’s detachments specialized in combating terrorism in Salahaddin were able to arrest nine wanted suspects through separate operations and high-level efforts and planning,”
state media stated, citing a report from Iraq’s Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency.
They were apprehended following Article Four of the Counter-Terrorism Law of 2005, which says that anyone discovered guilty of committing a terror offence is handed a death sentence, with life detention given to those who assist or conceal those convicted of terrorism.
“Upon investigation, they explicitly confessed to belonging to the remnants of the terrorist ISIS gangs and to carrying out many terrorist attacks in Salahaddin province,”
the statement said.
ISIS grabbed control of large swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014. The group was reported territorially defeated in 2017 but persists in carrying out bombings, hit-and-run raids, and kidnappings across several provinces. The militants have taken refuge in a security vacuum in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, extending across several provinces including Kirkuk, Salahaddin, Nineveh, and Diyala.
Iraqi security forces have strengthened their operations against ISIS cells in recent months, especially in the disputed areas. Three ISIS suspects were captured by Iraqi intelligence forces in the capital Baghdad.
