ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Kurdistan Region security forces (Asayish) on Saturday said they arrested 22 Islamic State (ISIS) members, including a senior member, and seized “a large quantity” of weapons during a four-day operation in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces.

Asayish said in a statement that its general directorate of operations, working with the Asayish directorates of Sulaimani and Halabja provinces, conducted the 96-hour operation and arrested “two armed ISIS cells along with a number of covert ISIS members.”

The operation culminated in an exchange of gunfire at 11:20 pm in the Khurmal district of Halabja province, where security forces arrested the group’s “sharia emir,” according to the statement. The arrest brought the total number of ISIS members detained in the operation to 22.

Asayish said all those arrested “are of Kurdish ethnicity” and that “the group had intended to carry out several terrorist acts in mid-September.”

A sharia emir is a term used to designate a senior religious and legal official within jihadist and militant Islamist organizations.

The directorate said the operation resulted in no casualties.

It added that “a large quantity” of heavy, medium and small weapons, hand grenades, military binoculars and ammunition was seized.

All those arrested remain in custody, while the investigation into the case is ongoing, the directorate said.

It said evidence had been collected by the directorate and the investigative judge, adding that confessions and all evidence would be disclosed to the public in the “near future.”

ISIS seized 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.

However, 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.