Iraqi army hunts down Daesh/ISIS cells in Diyala

BAGHDAD

The Iraqi army on Saturday launched a military operation in the eastern Diyala province to hunt down Daesh/ISIS terrorist cells, according to a military officer.

“The operation targets Daesh/ISIS cells in Diyala province,” the officer told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to brief the media.

He said security forces received intelligence information indicating the presence of Daesh/ISIS terrorists in Diyala.

Earlier Saturday, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said in a statement that security forces had arrested a Daesh/ISIS member in the Al-Mushahdah district, north of the capital Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the US-led coalition against Daesh/ISIS in Iraq said Saturday it carried out raids targeting sites of the terrorist organization on the outskirts of Kifri district in the Sulaymaniyah province in northern Iraq.

In a Twitter post, military spokesman, Col. Wayne Marotto, said the coalition is committed to supporting both the Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in their fight against Daesh/ISIS and to ensure that the group “never resurges.”

Rizgar Taha, a Peshmerga officer, told Anadolu Agency that several Daesh/ISIS hideouts in the Koh Mountain in Kifri district were struck by coalition airstrikes.

Attacks blamed on Daesh/ISIS fighters have escalated in Iraq in recent months, especially in the provinces of Salahuddin, Diyala, and Kirkuk.

In 2017, Iraq declared victory over Daesh/ISIS by reclaiming all of its territory -- about a third of the country’s area -- invaded by the terror group in 2014.

But the terror group still maintains sleeper cells in large areas of Iraq and periodically launches attacks. The Iraqi army continues to carry out frequent operations against the group in parts of the country.

* Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar