Two Islamic State terrorists arrested in Kirkuk

The Iraqi Federal Police have announced arresting two Islamic State leaders in Kirkuk province.

In a statement, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat said troops managed today “during an operation to arrest two Islamic State leaders in Kirkuk.”

One of the leaders, according to the statement, “is called Mohamed al-Hamdani, known as Abu Akab, who is the security leader of the group in al-Zab region. The other one is Maher al-Obeidi, leader of the Islamic State cells in al-Riyad region.”

“Through investigations, information was obtained on presence of rest houses, which include huge amounts of explosives and ammunition, which were destroyed,” he added.

Earlier today, three tribal mobilization fighters have been wounded in a bomb blast in al-Riyad region. Two Federal Police personnel were killed, while a third was injured as a booby-trapped vehicle, driven by a suicide attacker, exploded targeting a security checkpoint in al-Abbassi region in Hawija.

In December, the Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced gaining control on all the territories that were captured by Islamic State, since 2014.

Thousands of militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.

Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks across Iraq against troops. Security reports indicate that the militant group still poses threat against stability in the country. The group still has dormant cells, through which it carries out attacks, across Iraq like it used to do before 2014.

Source: Iraqi News