Iraqi police arrest five Islamic State militants in Mosul
Iraqi troops arrest a suspected Islamic State militant
Nineveh (Iraqinews.com) – Five Islamic State militants were arrested Wednesday in Mosul city, the interior ministry’s spokesman was quoted as saying.
“Nineveh police arrested five members of the terrorist Islamic State group in the western side of Mosul,” Maj. Gen. Saad Maan told Alghad Press.
According to Maan, the arrests were made during a security campaign in Al-A’amel neighborhood in Mosul city.
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.
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 last December, 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.