By Hussein al-Amir and Serhad Shakir

DIYALA/ NINEVEH, Iraq

Iraqi army forces dismantled four Daesh positions during a military operation in eastern Iraq, according to an Iraqi police officer on Sunday.

“The operation was launched in response to an increasing Daesh activity in the border areas inside the Saladin province,” Capt. Habib al-Shammari told Anadolu Agency.

The operation came after a senior police officer was killed on Saturday in a roadside bomb blast in northern Tikrit in eastern Iraq.

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces nabbed a Daesh militant in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday.

“The militant was detained upon an intelligence tip-off in western Mosul,” Nineveh police chief Brigadier General Hamad a-Jabouri said.

He said the militant, who was identified as Nezar Saleh, was responsible for a series of car-bomb attacks in Mosul. 

Last December, officials in Baghdad declared that Daesh's military presence in Iraq had been all but dismantled over operations backed by the U.S.-led International Alliance.

However, from time to time, Iraqi officials announce operations against Daesh-affiliated "sleeper cells" in certain parts of the country.