“After obtaining judicial approvals, the Counter-Terrorism Cell of the National Security Service, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Operations of the Asayish Agency in the Kurdistan Region … arrested 21 individuals accused of terrorism in Sulaimani province,” the cell said in a statement.
The suspects had judicial warrants against them, according to the statement which added, “Among them were leaders in ISIS terrorist gangs, one of whom held the position of security official for what was called ‘Fallujah province’ and the other worked as an administrative assistant for what was called ‘Dijla province’."
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraqi land in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, but it continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.
Thousands of people have been detained across Iraq since 2014 for suspected links to extremist groups, including ISIS, and hundreds have been executed.
Earlier in July, Asayish arrested nine wanted ISIS members in Sulaimani province, and on July 12, they arrested three more suspects.
In late June, at least seven ISIS members were killed in two separate airstrikes in Salahaddin province, days after three ISIS members were killed in an operation in Kirkuk.
