Security forces apprehend biggest IS terrorist cell in Ramadi

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi troops arrested on Monday a six-member terrorist cell of Islamic State in Ramadi, the capital of Ramadi province, the Iraqi Military Intelligence Directorate said in a statement.

“Troops of the 10th Division of the Military Intelligence Directorate managed to arrest the biggest terrorist cell involved in car bomb attacks in Ramadi,” Dijlah TV channel quoted the directorate as saying in a statement on Monday.

“The so-called Abu Abullah al-Ansari cell is made up of six members; all of them are wanted on terror charges pursuant to article no. 4 of the anti-terrorism law,” added the statement.

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, 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.