Iraqi security forces capture Speicher massacre culprit
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi security forces said Wednesday they have captured an Islamic State (ISIS) militant who allegedly participated in the mass slaughter of 1,566 Shiite cadets at a camp in Speicher in 2014.
“The detachments of military intelligence in brigade 41 of division 10, in light of accurate information, captured one of the perpetrators of the terrorist Speicher crime,” the Directorate of Intelligence announced in a Facebook post Wednesday.
The unnamed suspect was captured in a “successful ambush” near Fallujah’s Directorate of Traffic, it added.
Fallujah is located in Iraq’s vast desert province of Anbar, which has seen constant insurgent activity since 2003.
The notorious Camp Speicher Massacre is considered one the jihadist group’s most brutal crimes.
On June 12, 2014, about 1,566 Shiite cadets undergoing training at the camp in Tikrit were executed by ISIS militants, who had initially promised them safe passage.
More than 50 people accused of taking part in the massacre have already been sentenced to death by Iraqi authorities. Thirty-six of them were hanged in August 2016.
The Directorate of Intelligence also announced Division 14’s intelligence wing captured two wanted terrorists at Dibis checkpoint in Makhmour.
Makhmour is a disputed territory between Baghdad and Erbil, home to the rugged strategic terrain of the Qarachogh Mountains where ISIS militants have dug in.
Photographs seen by Rudaw appear to show ISIS militants moving around the area in broad daylight. Locals say ISIS freely moves between villages collecting food and levying taxes.
Signs of a growing insurgency are also visible in Kirkuk – another disputed territory. Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias said Tuesday they had captured two ISIS militants on the outskirts of the city.
Hashd fighters also report clashes with ISIS in Babil, forcing the militants to retreat to Jarf al-Sakhir.
“Hashd al-Shaabi forces foil an infiltration attempt of Daesh elements at Jarf al-Nasr,” Hashd’s Directorate of Media said in a tweet on Wednesday. “They were countered, and a number of them were killed while the rest fled.”
A Hashd fighter was also reportedly killed in a skirmish with ISIS in the Saladin-Beji area.
Although ISIS was declared defeated in Iraq in December 2017 by former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the group has resorted to its old insurgency tactics.
ISIS militants have exploited security gaps between the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces. The Peshmerga withdrawal from the disputed territories in October 2017 created a power vacuum, giving militants the breathing spaces needed to regroup.