Kurdish forces say ISIS car bomb attack plot on al-Hol foiled

Kurdish forces in northeast Syria (Rojava) on Wednesday said they thwarted two planned car bomb attacks by suspected Islamic State (ISIS) militants attempting to infiltrate al-Hol camp which houses family members of the group, days after an anti-ISIS operation in the facility concluded in hundreds of arrests.

Internal security forces (Asayish) said they obtained information on a planned ISIS attack at al-Hol and subsequently ambushed the suspects near a village close to the camp, killing three and resulting in the detonation of one of the car bombs.

The second car bomb contained 300 kilograms of explosives and was dismantled, according to the Asayish.

An Asayish member was slightly wounded in the operation.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Saturday announced the completion of a weeks-long anti-ISIS operation inside the notorious al-Hol camp, which saw the arrests of 226 ISIS suspects, including 36 women, as well as the confiscation of various weapons and the dismantling of tents used by ISIS cells as courts and torture centers.

Al-Hol camp is located in Hasaka province and has infamously been branded a breeding ground for ISIS, with authorities describing the sprawling facility as a “ticking time bomb,” saying the situation in the camp is “very dangerous.”

The sprawling camp is home to around 56,000 people – mostly women and children of different nationalities that have links to ISIS, who were taken to the camp after the SDF overran the terror group’s last stronghold in Syria in 2019.

Kurdish, Iraqi, and international officials have repeatedly warned of ISIS indoctrination in the squalid camp.

On Wednesday, the SDF counter-terrorism units announced the arrest of six alleged ISIS members, including a leader, in Raqqa city.

Source: Rudaw