Former ISIS official arrested in Kirkuk as operations intensify before coalition exit

KIRKUK — Military intelligence arrested a man known as Abu Sahir in Kirkuk’s Yaychi subdistrict on Sunday, saying he held several positions in the Islamic State group while it controlled parts of Anbar, in the latest of a run of operations across four governorates in the fortnight before the U.S.-led coalition’s mission ends.

Intelligence monitoring located him before the arrest, which was carried out by the 8th Division intelligence department and the Yaychi intelligence branch, the Security Media Cell said. He served with the group’s Yarmouk Division in the Saqlawiyah sector of Anbar and worked in what it called its Diwan of Services, the administrative body that ran utilities and public services in areas under its control, according to the statement. Legal procedures have begun before he is referred to the judiciary.

In the Kurdistan Region, security forces arrested a man they describe as an ISIS religious emir after an exchange of fire in Khurmal, in Halabja governorate, at 11:20 p.m. on Saturday, an operation the Kurdistan Region Security Agency said ended without casualties. Twenty-two suspects were held over four days, with two armed cells dismantled across Sulaymaniyah and Halabja under judicial authorisation. Heavy, medium and light weapons, hand grenades, military binoculars and ammunition were seized, which the agency said were intended for attacks “in the middle of this month.” All 22 are Kurdish, investigations continue, and the agency said it would release their alleged confessions later. Its account has not been independently verified.

Iraqi F-16s destroyed a hideout in the Narin area of Diyala with two missiles on Saturday, the Security Media Cell said, without saying whether anyone was killed. The site was identified in the Diyala Operations Command sector through Military Intelligence Directorate information and aerial surveillance from the reconnaissance centre in the commander-in-chief’s office. The same day, ISIS gunmen attacked an army post on the outskirts of Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk, damaging a thermal camera without causing casualties.

The coalition mission is due to end on Sept. 30 under the 2024 agreement between Baghdad and Washington. Coalition forces are being moved out of the Kurdistan Region daily and Iraq should avoid a security vacuum when they go, KRG Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed said this week, urging Baghdad to build bilateral security relationships with coalition countries to replace it.

Iraqi aircraft destroyed eight hideouts in Kirkuk in August, the fourth operation there in about five weeks, and F-16s carried out three strikes north of Kirkuk in July after a Counter-Terrorism Service officer was killed inspecting previously hit sites. The group seized Mosul and Tikrit in 2014 and became known for its brutality and its attacks on minority communities. It was largely defeated by 2017, with remnants operating from remote areas since.