Iraq: 3 Islamic State militants apprehended in Mosul

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) – Three Islamic State militants were arrested Sunday in the group’s previously proclaimed capital Mosul, a security official was quoted as saying.

“Nineveh policemen arrested three members of the terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) group in Mosul’s eastern side,” Iraqi news website Baghdad Today quoted Spokesman for the Interior Ministry Maj. Gen. Saad Maan as saying.

“One of the arrestees was serving as a companion of the so-called security director of Daesh’s Dijlah State,” he added.

Islamic State 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.

Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December with the help of a US-led alliance, having retaken all the territory captured by the extremists in 2014 and 2015.

Isolated cells believed to be linked to the Islamic State group remain active in some parts of the country. In recent weeks, suspected Islamic State insurgents have carried out several attacks targeting security forces in the areas north-west of Kirkuk.