Iraqi forces apprehend Islamic State fighter in Anbar
Iraqi security forces arrest a suspected member of the Islamic State group
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi security forces arrested on Tuesday an Islamic State fighter implicated in kidnapping and torturing civilians in Anabr province.
“Troops of the Iraqi Military Intelligence Directorate arrested a terrorist belonging to Islamic State in al-Karmah district, 16 km northeast of Fallujah in Anbar province,” the privately-owned Almaalomah news website quoted the directorate as saying in a statement.
The arrestee was notorious for “kidnapping and torture of citizens before the liberation of al-Karama” from Islamic State in November 2016, the statement read.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in November 2017 with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.
IS declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition and paramilitary forces, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul, the group’s previously proclaimed capital.
Despite the group’s crushing defeat at its main havens across Iraq, Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks against troops with security reports warning that the militant group still poses a threat against stability in the country.