Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah

Security forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region arrested 22 suspected ISIS members in Al-Sulaymaniyah and Halabja, including an alleged senior religious official, the Region’s security agency said on Sunday.

In a statement, the agency said its General Directorate of Security Operations carried out a series of operations over the past 96 hours in coordination with security directorates in Al-Sulaymaniyah and Halabja.

Security forces also seized large quantities of heavy, medium and light weapons, along with hand grenades, military binoculars and ammunition.

The agency said intelligence gathered during the investigation indicated that the suspects had been planning several attacks in the Kurdistan Region for mid-September.

At 11:20 p.m. on Saturday, security forces arrested the group’s alleged “sharia emir” in Khurmal, Halabja province, after an exchange of gunfire during the arrest operation. No casualties were reported.

Within ISIS, the title “sharia emir” generally refers to a senior religious official responsible for interpreting and enforcing the group’s extremist version of Islamic law and providing religious justification for its activities.

The agency said all 22 detainees were ethnic Kurds and that investigations were continuing.

ISIS lost territorial control in Iraq in 2017 but continues operating through scattered cells in rural and remote areas.

Read more: Tracking down ISIS in Iraq: From rugged terrain to DNA identification