Iraq declares capture of 13 Islamic State militants in Mosul
Iraqi troops arrest a suspected Islamic State militant
Nineveh (Iraqinews.com) – Up to 13 Islamic State (IS) militants were arrested Monday in their former stronghold of Mosul, a police chief was quoted as saying.
“Nineveh police arrested the 13 militants upon accurate intelligence data in al-Entisar, Judaydat al-Mufti and al-Nour districts in Mosul’s eastern side,” Baghdad Today website quoted Nineveh Police Chief Brig. Gen. Hamad Nems al-Jabouri as saying in a statement.
“The arrests were made pursuant to article 4/1 of the anti-terrorism law,” the statement read.
The arrestees were found to have pledged allegiance to Islamic State and worked for its Hisbah (vigilantism) and confiscation departments, the statement concluded.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced last July the liberation of the second largest Iraqi city of Mosul from IS militants, who had captured it in 2014.
More than 25,000 militants were killed throughout the campaign, which started in October 2016.
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.