Muslim Cleric arrested over affiliation to Islamic State in Erbil
Iraqi security forces arrest a suspected fighter with the Islamic State group during a military operation.
In remarks to the Kurdish-owned Rudaw network, Tareq Nuri, head of Erbil security department, said “security troops arrested cleric called Mulla Ismail Sussi over belonging to Islamic State.”
Sussi, according to Nuri, “was detained three weeks ago over affiliation to Islamic State. The case was referred to court.”
Sussi was banned from giving speeches at mosques in 2010 due to his extremist thoughts, which prompted him to resort to social media platforms to post his lessons. This resulted in arresting him in August 2011 before getting released later.
Thousands of Islamic State militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.
In December, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced gaining control on all the territories that were captured by Islamic State, since 2014. However, the group still has dormant cells, through which it carries out attacks, across Iraq like it used to do before 2014.
Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks across Iraq against troops. Security reports indicate that the militant group still poses threat against stability in the country.