ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Several suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members were arrested in Kirkuk in a joint operation between Kurdish and Iraqi forces, the Kurdish Counter Terrorism Group announced on Saturday. “In a joint intelligence and military operation, the Counter Terrorism Group (CTG), Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (ICTS), and Coalition forces successfully apprehended several wanted terrorists,” read a statement from the CTG. The suspects were part of an ISIS division called Diwan al-Jund and had taken refuge in the outskirts of Kirkuk. “The terrorists had been playing a key role in providing logistical supplies and materials to ISIS sleeper cells and active networks in the Kirkuk region,” the statement explained. ISIS seized control of swathes of territory in northern and central Iraq in 2014. Their so-called caliphate was brought to an end in 2017, but the group continues to pose a security threat particularly in the disputed territories that stretch across several provinces including Diyala, Salahaddin, Kirkuk, and Nineveh. Iraq’s air force frequently carries out strikes against ISIS cells in these disputed territories. The US-led global coalition provided both the Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga with air and ground support, as well as training and equipment, in the war against ISIS.
