Islamic State replaces runaway police chief
Members of the Islamic State group. File photo.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The self-proclaimed Islamic State has appointed a new commander of its so-called “police service” after a former leader fled the group’s domains.
Alghad Press quoted an unidentified source saying Tuesday that IS appointed Abu Karar al-Iraqi as a new police chief, replacing fugitive Abu Othman al-Mayathini who had fled several weeks earlier.
The website did not, however, explain the area where the new commander was situated or that which the former commander had fled.
Islamic State is still holding havens in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahuddin, and Iraqi forces, backed by paramilitary troops, launched a new offensive on Sunday targeting Tal Afar, one of the group’s main bastions in Iraq.
Since operations launched in October 2016 to recapture Islamic State-held areas, the group lost more than 25.000 of its fighters, while others reportedly escaped battlefields. Many members have reportedly been executed by the group for escaping battles or showing poor performance. Frequent reports have also told of divisions, conflicts over leaderships and mysterious assassinations within the group.
The group lost its former capital, Mosul, to Iraqi forces early July, a major development viewed as an effective fall of the self-styled “caliphate” the militants declared in 2014.