Iraqi Intelligence forces arrested ISIS physical trainer wanted by the Iraqi court

Iraqi intelligence forces announced on Friday that they had arrested an Islamic State militant responsible for providing physical training for the group’s members.

The military authority did not reveal his identity, but published a photo with his face concealed and stated that he was arrested on the western side of the city.

According to a statement released by an Iraqi intelligence agency, the suspect was a physical trainer that had overseen courses which transformed new recruits into hardened fighters.

It also stated that the operation to capture the trainer was launched as a result of an arrest warrant issued by an Iraqi court that charged the suspect with terrorism.

Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq and located in Nineveh Province, was one of the top strongholds of the Islamic State in the country following the group’s emergence in 2014. After taking control of Mosul, the jihadist group named it as the capital in Iraq of its self-proclaimed caliphate.

Iraq declared a military victory against the group in late 2017, but its remnants continue to launch insurgent attacks, ambushes, kidnappings, and explosions across the country, mainly in the provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Diyala, Salahuddin, and Anbar.

Over the past year, several different populations of civilians have evacuated dozens of villages after repeatedly warning Iraqi authorities of the Islamic State’s increasing presence and uptick in activity in their areas.

On Thursday, Iraqi security forces announced that they had killed a senior Islamic State official in Nineveh.

“As part of its intensifying operational & intelligence efforts, Iraq’s Al-Jazirah Operations Command killed Abd al-Ghafour Abdallah Karmoush, the Daesh [Islamic State] security official for ‘Wilayat Al-Jazirah’ and his aide who was wearing a suicide vest in Jabal Al-Shoor west of Nineveh,” said Iraqi military spokesman General Yahya Rasool.

Source: Kurdistan 24