The Iraqi authorities reported this Tuesday the capture of a leader of the Islamic State during a security forces operation in the province of Kirkuk, in the north of the country. This area was the scene on Monday of an attack that resulted in one agent dead and four injured.
The spokesman for the Security Directorate of the Kirkuk Governorate, Maruán Ibrahim al Ani, explained to the state news agency INA that the security forces continue to work to eradicate "the remnants of terrorism" and consolidate stability in the province. In this context, an operation has been carried out that has allowed the arrest of "one of the leaders" of the jihadist group's cell in Kirkuk.
Al Ani also rejected that a curfew has been decreed in the district of Al Hauiya and emphasized that "the area has not recorded any prior security incidents, except for the incursion carried out yesterday (this Monday) by the remnants of the Islamic State, which targeted one of the checkpoints and caused the martyrdom of one of the brave members of our security forces."
In parallel, security sources indicated to the Iraqi agency Shafaq that units of the Federal Police have surrounded in that same district a group of members of the terrorist organization.
According to the Kurdish news agency Roj, this raid occurs after a post of the Popular Mobilization Forces (FMP) --militias mostly pro-Iranian-- was attacked by the Islamic State in the southwest of the governorate.
At the same time, the jihadist group would have claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday against the Third Regiment of the Ninth Brigade of the Federal Police --a military force under the Ministry of the Interior-- in Kirkuk, according to various regional media.
The United States completed last week the withdrawal of its troops from Iraqi territory, invaded in 2003 with the aim of bringing down Saddam Hussein. In 2011, then-President Barack Obama ordered the pullout, but three years later American soldiers returned to the country as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State, led by Washington and in which European partners such as the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany participated.