SWAT forces arrest senior ISIS and Al-Qaeda commander in central

A SWAT force arrested on Monday night a senior Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda commander in central Ramadi, a security source was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Baghdad Today news website on Tuesday, the source said, “Adnan al-Marawi, a senior leader in the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda terrorist groups, was arrested on Monday night by a SWAT force in Ramadi’s al-Huz neighborhood.”

“Marawi had been released by the investigations bureau of Anbar earlier,” the source said, adding that a new list of wanted criminals has been issued recently.

On Monday, spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry Saad Maan announced arresting seven Islamic State members over involved in several terrorist acts during a clampdown launched in Mosul.

In December 2015, Iraq announced liberation of Ramadi city from Islamic State following a fierce battle between Iraqi troops and IS militants.

The liberation of Ramadi was seen as a major win for the Iraqi government against IS militants, who have taken over large swathes of the country, as well as parts of Syria.

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence earlier in November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.

IS declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by the US-led international coalition, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul, the group’s previously proclaimed capital.

Source: Iraqi News