ISIS Emir Arrested in Kirkuk

PUKMEDIA

INSA & Kurdistan Region Security Agency's logos.

The Iraqi National Security Agency (INSA) and the Sulaymaniyah Security Directorate (Sulaymaniyah Asayish) conducted a joint operation that resulted in the arrest of the emir of the so-called Kurdistan Sector of the Islamic State (ISIS) and prevented a terrorist plot.

The INSA announced in a statement on Saturday, November 23, 2024, that "in an operation in Kirkuk province, informed by intelligence, they thwarted a terrorist plot aimed at targeting various government entities and several personalities to destabilise the security situation in the province."

According to the statement, the INSA forces, in collaboration with the Sulaymaniyah Security Directorate, dismantled an ISIS terrorist network comprising seven individuals, including Azad Shakhi, the Emir of the Kurdistan Sector. 

One terrorist committed suicide after being sieged, and a network aimed at recruiting members for terrorist organisations was seized, the statement pointed out.

The statement also added that several books on extremist ideologies were confiscated, in addition to various equipment and drones. It also revealed that so far, 50 terrorists have been arrested in Kirkuk and prosecuted in accordance with the law.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command announced earlier on Saturday that the army warplanes have once again bombarded the Zaghaitun Valley in the Daquq district of Kirkuk, killing five suspected terrorists. Last week, Iraqi security forces eliminated four ISIS terrorists in an airstrike in the same area.
 
ISIS seized large swathes of Iraqi land in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" and killing thousands of people there before Baghdad declared victory in 2017. However, remnants of the terrorists are still active in the country, especially in the regions disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.

The terrorists ambush, kidnap, and extort both civilians and members of the security forces in the disputed areas, which stretch across several provinces, including Kirkuk, Nineveh, Diyala, and Saladin.

Last week, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in Tuz Khurmatu, Saladin Governorate, martyred a regiment commander, an engineering officer of a brigade from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and an Iraqi soldier.

Security forces conduct frequent operations to completely eliminate the terrorists. 



PUKMEDIA