Kurdistan Regional Security Council successfully apprehends ISIS leader

Shafaq News / The Security Council of the Kurdistan Region (KRI) announced on Saturday a special operation in which its security forces arrested an ISIS leader involved in multiple terrorist operations.

According to a statement from the Security Council, the security agencies of the Kurdistan Regional Security Council, based on intelligence information and accurate data collection, successfully arrested an ISIS leader named "Zaidan Khalifa Ahmed Matar," also known as Abu Layla. He served as the leader of the (Saad bin Abi Waqqas) sector In the so-called Tigris state and was active in Mount Qarah Jukh.

The statement explained that the detained terrorist joined ISIS in 2014 and became one of its militants in the Sharqat region. Later, he was appointed as the head of a mortar unit and participated in terrorist operations against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) forces in the Makhmour and Qaraj axes.

The statement further pointed out that after the liberation of the areas that were under ISIS control in 2017, the terrorist organization formed several squads. This individual was responsible for one of these squads in the Qarah Jukh Mountain and Abu Shita areas. Their objectives included carrying out assassinations, kidnapping civilians, and ransoming them for financial gain.