Iraqi security arrests 9 terrorists belonging to ISIS
Members of the Iraqi Counter-terrorism Service standing guard outside their headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi National Security Service (INSS) announced on Sunday that nine terrorists belonging to ISIS had been arrested in the governorates of Nineveh and Anbar and a hideout had been destroyed in Diyala governorate.
The INSS explained in a statement that following intelligence efforts undertaken by INSS security officers to pursue remnants of ISIS terrorists, a hideout was located and destroyed on a farm in Diyala governorate in northeastern Iraq, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
Based on intelligence information and with the agreement of Iraqi courts, INSS security forces in the governorates of Nineveh and Anbar managed to pursue terrorists and apprehend nine of them, who later admitted to being connected to ISIS.
UN experts said in a report issued last August that the ISIS group still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members across its former strongholds in Syria and Iraq, according to the AP.
The report mentioned that during the first half of 2023, the threat posed by ISIS remained mostly high in conflict zones and low in non-conflict areas.
The report that is directed to the UN Security Council illustrated that the overall situation is dynamic, and despite significant losses in the group’s leadership and reduced activity in Syria and Iraq, the risk of its resurgence remains.
Iraq announced in late 2017 the liberation of all its territories from the grip of ISIS, but the authorities are constantly launching security operations to pursue remnants of the terrorist group that carry out attacks from time to time in the country.