Iraqi security: Two Islamic State militants arrested in Mosul city
Iraqi security forces arrest a suspected member of the Islamic State group
Nineveh (Iraqinews.com) – Two Islamic State (IS) militants were arrested Wednesday in the group’s former stronghold of Mosul, the security department in Nineveh said.
“The pair were found to have pledged allegiance to Islamic State and worked for its Shar’ia (legitimacy) Diwan during the group’s capture of Mosul city in 2014,” Alghad press quoted the department as saying in a statement.
“The two were referred to a Nineveh investigative court for interrogation as they will be tried on terror charges pursuant to article 4/1 of the anti-terrorism law,” the statement read.
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.