Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (ICTS), in coordination with security forces in the Kurdistan Region, arrested six ISIS members in a series of operations spanning several provinces.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Service detailed that four suspects operating as couriers and logistical suppliers for ISIS were apprehended in Kirkuk, while two additional suspects were detained—one in Mosul and the other in Baghdad.

The Service also conducted search and clearance operations targeting ISIS hideouts in coordination with the Kurdistan Region’s Asayish Operations Directorate, focusing on the Al-Dibs district in Kirkuk province.

Separately, clearance operations in Saladin province, within the Hamrin mountain range, led to the destruction of six ISIS hideouts and underground shelters.

These operations follow an earlier security action in which Iraq’s National Security Service (INSS) captured ‘’Abu Alia,’’ a senior ISIS member specializing in bomb-making.

Despite its territorial defeat in 2017, ISIS remains active in Iraq, particularly in the Triangle of Death—Kirkuk, Saladin, and Diyala—through sleeper cells that conduct guerrilla attacks, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion aimed at destabilizing the region.

In early 2025, security operations across nine provinces eliminated 50 ISIS fighters and resulted in the arrest of more than 40 others.

Read more: On ISIS defeat anniversary, Iraq confronts a reawakening insurgency