Iraqi security apprehend senior Islamic State leader in Diyala

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi security forces arrested on Tuesday a senior Islamic State leader in the eastern Diyala province, a security chief was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Baghdad Today news website, Sadiq al-Husseini, the head of the security committee in Diyala provincial council, said that intelligence forces arrested a senior Islamic State leader after receiving accurate intelligence reports about his location in Hamreen mountain range, some 65 km northeast of the provincial capital Baquba.

“The IS leader was implicated in several violence acts that targeted civilians and security forces,” al-Husseini added.

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.