ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Iraqi Federal Intelligence and Investigation Agency on Monday announced the arrest of four suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members in Salahaddin, including one of the group's top leaders in the province, as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to destroy the extremist group’s networks.

 

"During interrogation, they explicitly confessed to their affiliation with the terrorist ISIS gang, their involvement in numerous terrorist attacks against security forces, and their participation in the previous terrorist attack on the Dhuluiyah district," read a statement by the intelligence agency.

 

It added that the "operation was carried out after gathering accurate information, technical and spatial follow-up, and based on proper judicial approvals." 

 

One of the four captured in the raid was ISIS’ so-called governor of Sulaiman Beg sector, Salahaddin province.

 

The arrests were made a day after the Iraqi army announced it had killed several ISIS members in airstrikes on the group’s hideouts in the remote regions of Salahaddin province, using F-16 fighter jets.

 

Earlier on Sunday, the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS) announced the capture of three suspected ISIS militants in Nineveh and Baghdad provinces.

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, in mid-March, announced the killing of the ISIS Deputy Caliph and so-called “Wali of Iraq and Syria."

 

Despite being territorially defeated in 2017, ISIS remains a threat to Iraqi security through hit-and-run operations and sleeper cells dispersed across the region.  Iraqi forces have intensified their efforts to eliminate these remnants, especially in provinces like Kirkuk, Anbar, and Nineveh, where ISIS cells remain active.

 

Iraqi security forces arrested over 500 terror suspects in 2024, according to data from the Iraqi National Security Service.