Iraqi forces ‘infiltrate, dismantle’ ISIS terror cell in Mosul: Army
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi security forces said on Monday that it had “infiltrated and dismantled” a terrorist cell in Mosul, presumably belonging to the so-called Islamic State.
The military said in a statement that a “qualitative operation” was conducted by “the detachments of the Military Intelligence Division of the 16th Brigade in cooperation with the intelligence of the third infantry brigade to penetrate and dismantle a terrorist cell in the city of Mosul.”
The statement noted that the terrorists were “operating in the Mosul Dam areas, the agricultural areas of Mosul, and the Al-Kuwair Bridge area, south of Mosul.”
Over the past few days, Iraqi security forces have launched several security campaigns to track down Islamic State sleeper cells in areas that were previously under their control.
On Sunday, Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service announced it had arrested a senior member of the Islamic State in the western city of Fallujah after a terrorist attack by the group killed a soldier and wounded two others at an Iraqi army post in a town south of Kirkuk.
Read More: Iraqi forces make more arrests in anti-ISIS crackdown as attack kills soldier
In a similar operation in Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, the anti-terror agency announced it had arrested a “wanted terrorist” and had found two weapons and ammunition caches in the Khalidiya area.
Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State in 2017, but senior military leaders, and indeed top officials from the Kurdistan Region, have warned that the organization still maintains activity through sleeper cells, exercising the strongest influence in areas of rural Iraq.
From their hideouts in bleak and inhospitable parts of the country, the terror group’s sleeper cells have planned and launched a series of attacks on security forces in Nineveh, Anbar, Salahuddin, Diyala, and Kirkuk provinces.
