ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi security forces on Tuesday announced the arrest of a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) member who has been accused of participation in attacks that killed 19 members of the security forces.

The suspect, identified as Abu Mohammed, was arrested by the Iraqi National Security Service (INSS) in an operation in the capital Baghdad “after accurate intelligence follow-up and tracking of his movements,” the INSS said in a statement.

“Initial investigations showed that the terrorist joined ISIS in 2014 and participated in several armed attacks targeting security forces in the Latifiya area, which resulted in the martyrdom of 19 army soldiers and the Popular Mobilization Forces,” the statement added.

According to the INSS, Abu Mohammed was the head of logistics for ISIS in parts of the vast western Anbar province, before fleeing to Syria and secretly returning to Baghdad. He was ultimately arrested in a “precise, qualitative luring operation.”

ISIS took over large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014, announcing its so-called “caliphate” in the Iraqi city of Mosul after a blistering offensive. The jihadists were territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, with the help of a US-led global coalition. Their defeat in Syria came two years later.

However, its sleeper cells continue to pose a threat to Iraq’s national security, and Iraqi and Kurdish forces routinely carry out operations to arrest the group’s remnants across the country.

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