Sulaimani security forces: Over 300 Islamic State terror suspects arrested in 2019

Over 300 people suspected of Islamic State (ISIS) membership were arrested by Sulaimani’s internal security forces over the course of 2019, according to their media office.

“According to Article 2 and Article 4 of the terror law, 331 persons charged with Daesh [ISIS] membership were arrested by the Sulaimani Asayesh Department,” Rzgar Hama Rahim, head of media relations for Sulaimani’s Asayesh announced in a Thursday press conference.

Of those arrested, 280 of were men and 51 women, Rahim said.

“All those arrested, including 285 Arabs and 46 Kurds, were handed over to the relevant Iraqi security agencies,” he added.

ISIS took control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014, including some Kurdish areas. Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga, supported by the US-led Global Coalition, overcame the militant group, declaring them defeated in Iraq in December 2017.

However, the group continues to maintain an active presence in Iraq, carrying out hit-and-run attacks against security forces, abductions of civilians and officials, and bombings in populated areas. They are mostly active in areas that are disputed between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments.

In January 2019, Sulaimani’s Asayesh arrested an ISIS militant wanted for fighting in Mosul, the center of the group’s presence in Iraq when it was at its peak.

Conducting joint security operations with the Kurdistan Region Security Agency, the province’s Asayesh in December 2018 arrested a group of militants suspected of plotting attacks in the Region and in vulnerable disputed territories in Kirkuk and Diyala provinces over the course of that year.

Source: Rudaw