SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi security forces detained 24 members of Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Anbar province, Iraq’s intelligence agency said on Tuesday.
The Iraqi Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency said its units had managed to detain “24 terrorists … for their affiliation with ISIS terrorist gangs.”
The militants worked in the so-called Anbar and Fallujah sectors of Islamic State, the agency said in a statement.
“The detention was carried out in accordance with warrants and judicial orders in separate areas of the governorate,” the agency stated.
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.
On Monday, units of the directorate of military intelligence arrested a senior ISIS member who ran fake accounts on social media for the militant group.
“The terrorist is one of those who used to reside in Turkey, ran fake ISIS websites on social media and facilitate ISIS housing in Turkey,” the directorate said.
On Sunday, Iraqi forces also detained 13 other members of ISIS in Baghdad governorate. They carried out acts in Kirkuk, Nineveh, North Baghdad and Tigris, the federal intelligence and investigation agency said.
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”.
Iraqi commanders have warned that the group has been regrouping in northern Iraq and relying on women to secure logistical support for their operatives in the Hamrin mountain range.
The area is caught between the jurisdictions of the Iraqi security forces and the Peshmerga forces.
Kurdish officials have said the militant group is using a security vacuum between the Iraqi and Kurdish forces in disputed areas.
