SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi security forces detained 17 members of Islamic State (ISIS) in Baghdad, the Iraqi intelligence agency said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Iraqi Intelligence Service said its forces carried intelligence operations in several areas in Baghdad province.
The agency further said two of the detainees, Abu Anas and Abu Qusay, worked in the so-called sectors of Fallujah and Nineveh, according to the Iraqi news agency INA.
“Another [detainee] is from an ISIS family and one of his brothers worked in the so-called Dabiq army,” the agency added.
Recently, Iraqi forces have stepped up efforts to detain ISIS militants in the provinces of Kirkuk, Saladin, Nineveh, Anbar and Baghdad. The security forces have detained and killed dozens of ISIS members in the past weeks.
Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December 2017 but the militants have regrouped in the Hamrin mountain range which extends into the northern provinces – an area described by officials as a “triangle of death”.
