Iraqi intelligence forces on Tuesday managed to arrest nine members of the Daesh terror group in Kirkuk and Baghdad.
Following a complicated operation، Iraqi troops identified and detained nine Daesh terrorists، Iraq’s Interior Ministry said in a statement، Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network reported.
The operation was carried out in line with efforts to clear the Arab country of the terror group’s remnants، it added.
“Five of the terrorists were arrested in different areas in Kirkuk، and the rest were apprehended in the neighborhoods of al-Dora and al-Jamaa in Baghdad،” the statement further read.
Daesh has intensified its movements in Iraq amid Baghdad’s call on the US to pull out its forces from the Arab country.
In a vote on January 5، the Iraqi parliament called for an end to the presence of all foreign troops، including Americans.
The vote came two days after the US military – acting on US President Donald Trump’s order – launched a fatal drone strike on senior Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani upon his arrival in the Iraqi capital at the invitation of the Baghdad government.
The attack also claimed the lives of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis، the second-in-command of Iraq’s PMU or Hashd al-Sha’abi، along with eight other Iranian and Iraqi people.
Washington has threatened sanctions should US troops be expelled instead of heeding the Iraqi parliament’s call to end the occupation of the country.