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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An Iraqi Islamic State (ISIS) emir was arrested by counter-terror forces in Mosul, state media reported on Thursday.
The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) arrested the emir, who became responsible for the Tigris area south of Mosul after his predecessor was killed in a security operation, military spokesperson Yehia Rasool was quoted as saying.
Rasool and Iraqi security services regularly announce arrests of ISIS militants throughout the country.
The Baghdad Intelligence Directorate, in coordination with the ICTS, arrested two terrorists in Baghdad’s Tarmiyah district on Thursday, the Security Media Cell said on Telegram.
A force from the 56th brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) arrested an ISIS member in Hawija, Kirkuk province and handed him over to security authorities, it added.
On Wednesday, ICTS said that it had arrested six ISIS militants across Iraq, including two in cooperation with Kurdistan Region Asayish (internal security forces).
Although the Iraqi government announced the territorial defeat of ISIS in December 2017, remnants of the group have returned to earlier insurgency tactics, ambushing security forces, kidnapping and executing suspected informants, extorting money from vulnerable rural populations, and carrying out bomb attacks.
Sleeper cells are particularly active in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, including Kirkuk province.
Rasool warned in February of the ongoing threat of ISIS, especially in security vacuum in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
"An important point is there are kilometers where there is no security force from neither Iraq nor the Kurdistan Region, and it has become a hotspot for ISIS,” he said in a roundtable discussion held by Rudaw research center on February 19.
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