Iraq foils scheme to form terrorist cell in Baghdad, arrests all its members
Iraqi troops arrest a suspected Islamic State militant
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi authorities thwarted on Tuesday a plot to form a terrorist cell in the capital Baghdad and arrested all its members.
“Federal police forces foiled today a scheme to form a terrorist cell to carry out terrorist attacks in Baghdad,” the Iraqi Security Media Council said in a statement.
“Acting upon accurate intelligence reports, all members of the terrorist cell were arrested in different parts in Baghdad,” the statement read.
“They were referred to the bodies concerned for interrogation,” it added.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over five million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence earlier in November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.
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.