20 Islamic State militants apprehended in Mosul
Iraqi security forces arrest a suspected member of the Islamic State group
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) – A security official has said that 20 Islamic State members, including five women, were arrested Monday in southern Mosul city.
“Security forces managed to arrest 20 Islamic State militants in Hajj Ali village in Qayyarah district, 60 km south of Mosul,” Basnews website quoted Major Samir Aref as saying.
“They worked for al-Hisbah (Vigilantism) department,” Aref said, adding that the security forces moved the arrestees into the headquarters of the Nineveh Operations Command for interrogation.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces has resulted in over five million internally displaced persons across Iraq and left more than 11 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced last year liberation of the second largest Iraqi city of Mosul from IS militants, who had captured it in 2014. More than 25000 militants were killed throughout the campaign, which started in October 2016.
A total of 79 Iraqi civilians were killed and another 99 injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in July 2018, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).