Iraqi forces arrest suicide bomber near Mosul market
Iraqi troops search a suicide bomber
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi security forces on Wednesday arrested a suicide bomber who tried to blow himself up near a popular market in Mosul.
“The suicide bomber is affiliated with the Islamic State militant group,” a security source told Baghdad News, adding that he was taken to a police station for interrogation.
Earlier in the day, Iraqi troops arrested the last Islamic State Wali (governor) in Mosul city along with his two brothers.
“Saleb al-Eslahi and his two brothers, Ahmed and Suleiman, were nabbed at a village in Mosul with fake IDs in their possession,” semi-official newspaper al-Sabah quoted a police officer from Nineveh as saying.
“The trio was referred to the bodies concerned for interrogation,” the officer added.
Despite declaring victory over Islamic State in Mosul, the group’s former bastion in Iraq, observers say IS group is believed to constitute a security threat even after its defeat at its main havens across Iraqi provinces.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared, in July, victory over IS militants who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014. More than 25,000 militants were killed throughout the campaign.
Government forces, backed by paramilitary troops and the US-led international coalition, have been fighting, since October 2016, the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.
The war against IS has so far displaced at least five million people. Thousands others fled towards neighboring countries including Syria, Turkey and other European countries, since IS emerged to proclaim its self-styled “caliphate”.