Iraq extradites ISIS member from Germany over suspected role in Speicher massacre

BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities on Tuesday announced the extradition of a suspected Islamic State member from Germany, identifying him as Ali Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Kilani. He is accused of involvement in the 2014 Speicher massacre and of previously escaping from a prison in Salah al-Din Governorate.

The Speicher massacre, one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq’s modern history, saw the execution of roughly 1,700 unarmed Iraqi Air Force cadets by ISIS militants at Camp Speicher near Tikrit. The victims, predominantly Shia, were separated from fellow detainees and shot en masse after ISIS took over the area in June 2014.

In a statement, the National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said Al-Kilani had been residing in Germany and was “planning to carry out terrorist attacks there.” The extradition was coordinated by the center in collaboration with Iraq’s National Intelligence Service and German authorities.

Al-Kilani is currently appearing before the First Karkh Investigative Court in Baghdad. Legal procedures are ongoing ahead of his expected referral to the competent courts for trial.

The Speicher massacre occurred during ISIS’s rapid territorial expansion in 2014, when the group seized large parts of Iraq and Syria. The militants were eventually driven out of Iraqi territory in 2017 by Iraqi and Kurdish forces backed by a U.S.-led international coalition, and lost their last Syrian stronghold in 2019.