Detained Japanese citizen with links to IS handed to Tokyo

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) on Monday revealed a detained Japanese citizen who was arrested for having links to the Islamic State (IS) had been handed over to the Japanese government.

In a statement, the KRSC said on Oct. 19, a Japanese national named Kosuke Tsuneoka, known by the nom de guerre Shamil K. Tsuneoka, was arrested near Zerdk Mountain in northeastern Mosul for having links with the IS.

The report mentioned an investigation by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) found he was in contact with the insurgents through his smartphone.

“Our Security Services remained in dialogue with Japanese authorities throughout his detention about the potential charges against him,” the KRSC tweeted on its official Twitter account.

“It was decided to hand over Mr. Tsuneoka to Japanese authorities. He left through Erbil International Airport on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016,” the KRSC added in another tweet.

Tsuneoka is a 47-year-old journalist who specializes in the Middle East.

He flied to the Kurdistan Region in the past months to cover the military operation of retaking Mosul from IS, launched by the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi forces.

Moreover, he had been arrested several times in the past as well as being kidnapped in 2010 while in Afghanistan.

Mosul has been under the control of the extremist group since June 2014.

Since then, the group has lost large swaths of territory in Iraq and continues to shrink as the security forces have already begun to attack Mosul from the north, east, south, and west.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany