Iraq arrests ISIS member it says helped plan 2017 bombing that killed over 80

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An Iraqi provincial police department on Thursday announced the arrest of an alleged terrorist it said had taken part in six deadly bombings across multiple provinces. The most severe of these resulted in the deaths of over 80 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State.

Najaf Province's police directorate said in a statement that a tactical unit that under the authority of the Interior Ministry had managed to “capture the terrorist Badr Fares Mutlak al-Zakroutti."

The statement charged that Zakroutti had played a role in the planning of six bombing attacks that had occurred the southern provinces of Karbala, Babil, and a particularly deadly one in Dhi Qar that killed 84 and injured 93 others. The incident occurred in September of 2017 at a restaurant in the city of Nasiriyah that was popular with groups of Shia Muslim pilgrims on their way to visit holy shrines. 

The police added that Zakroutti had also aided in the logistics of transporting suicide bombers to Najaf in the past few years and that he had been operating within the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed “South Wilayat” and “Anbar Wilayat” regions, in southern and western Iraq.

The statement did not say precisely where Zarkouti was arrested.

Despite Iraq declaring a “final victory” against the Islamic State in December 2017, it continues to carry out sporadic attacks which include bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings in previously liberated areas throughout parts of the country the extremist group previously controlled and also in areas it never controlled such as Baghdad.

Earlier this month, the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of a man wearing a disguise of women's clothing who is alleged to have sentenced multiple Iraqis to death while previously acting as a criminal judge for the Islamic State. Iraqi forces captured the man in a village in Nineveh province.

A ministry spokesperson explained that the detainee “was working in the so-called Sharia Court of Da’esh,” which has been responsible for issuing “death sentences against many citizens and members of the security services” when the Islamic State controlled much of the province, including its capital of Mosul. 

Editing by John J. Catherine