Iraqi troops apprehend 22 wanted criminals in Mosul city
Representational photo.
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi security announced on Monday the capture of 22 wanted criminals and seizure of a boatload of explosive charges during security operations in Mosul city.
“Troops of Nineveh Operations Command arrested 22 criminals who are wanted by Iraqi judiciary during inspection operations in Badush village, northwest of Mosul,” Baghdad Today quoted spokesman for the Iraqi Security Media Council Brig. Gen. Yehia Rassol as saying.
“The troops also detonated 10 explosive charges that were left by Islamic State and destroyed several IS tunnels in Badush as well,” the spokesman added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced in July 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.
A government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and a U.S.-led international coalition, has been fighting the Islamic State group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq 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.
Mosul has always been an easy target for Islamic State militants, who sought to take revenge from Iraqi security forces after they lost the city last year.