Security

Iraqi security forces arrest six ISIS militants in Kirkuk

One of the suspects had been working to providing logistical support to ISIS cells throughout Kirkuk while another was among the participants in the infamous Speicher Massacre.

Mustafa Shilani 2021/05/19 20:50

Iraqi forces search an area in Tarmiyah, 35 km (20 miles) north of Baghdad, following clashes with ISIS fighters, Feb. 20, 2021. (Photo: AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

Iraq Iraq ISIS Kirkuk Kurdistan Disputed Territories Krg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s Security Media Cell announced the arrest of six ISIS terrorists in Kirkuk, including one of the participants in the Speicher airbase massacre.

"The Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency forces at the Ministry of Interior managed to arrest six terrorists in separate areas of Kirkuk province, wanted in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of terrorism law, for their affiliation with ISIS terrorists,” read a statement by the Security Media Cell, an Iraqi military press office.

According to the statement, one of the suspects had been working to providing logistical support to ISIS cells throughout Kirkuk while another was among the participants in the infamous Speicher Massacre.

During the grizzly incident, named after Speicher Air Force Base outside Tikrit where it occurred, ISIS fighters fatally shot over 1,500 Shia Muslim cadets in the wake of the extremist group's takeover of Mosul in 2014.

"This morning, the security forces, at the headquarters of the Joint Operations Command in disputed Kirkuk province, embarked on a wide-ranging security operation to pursue ISIS elements, especially after witnessing recent security breaches," the statement continued, adding that the operation took place with the support of the Iraqi Air Force and Army Aviation.

Kirkuk continues to witness ISIS attacks targeting civilians, Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, tribal and local leaders, oil fields, and more in what appears to be a resurgence of the terrorist organization's followers in the province, inhabited by Kurds, Turkmen, and Arabs, as well as other ethnic and religious minorities.

Kurdistan Region officials and security commanders renewed their demands for boosted federal and regional security coordination in areas like Kirkuk that are disputed by Baghdad and Erbil.

A Kurdish official told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday that Iraq's military forces and their counterparts in the autonomous Kurdistan Region will form joint brigades to be deployed within the disputed territories to counter the continuing threat posed there by ISIS militants.

Editing by John J. Catherine