Eight Islamic State terrorists arrested on Iraqi-Syrian border – source
Iraqi security forces arrest a suspected member of the Islamic State group in Iraq. File photo
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – Eight militants of the terrorist Islamic State group were killed Saturday during a security operation near the Iraqi-Syrian border, a security source was quoted as saying.
“Iraqi troops carried out a security operation in the desert areas near Ar-Rutbah and Nukhayb towns in western Anbar to pursuit Islamic State terrorists,” the source told Almaalomah news website.
“The operation resulted in the arrest of eight IS extremists,” the source said, adding that the arrestees are implicated in carrying out terrorist attacks against security forces and civilians in Anbar province.
Law enforcement acted on precise intelligence data as they made the arrest, added the source.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in November 2017 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 a U.S.-led international coalition and paramilitary forces, 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.