Iraqi Interior Ministry arrested gangs kidnapping doctors

Iraqi Interior Ministry announced that it managed to arrest the killer of a doctor and the gangs that kidnapped Iraqi doctors in Baghdad. The ministry said, in a press statement, that security forces will take strict measures against the criminal gangs and called the citizens for helping them.

It added that they managed to arrest a gang composed of 4 persons in the district of New Baghdad, saying that they work to kidnap doctor to take ransoms. It added that they took serious actions against them and referred them to trial.

Four security personnel were killed as Islamic State attacked troops at a market in western Mosul, a source from Nineveh police was quoted saying. “Security troops deployed at al-Maash market clashed with IS members who attempted attacking the troops,” Cap. Amir Wathiq told BasNews on Tuesday. “The clashes left four police personnel, including a lieutenant general, killed.”

“The attacking elements ran away to an unknown destination, as security reinforcements arrived and police cordoned off the region,” he added. On Monday, news reports said four civilians were killed while three others, including two policemen, were wounded as a booby-trapped vehicle exploded in Bab Sinjar market in western Mosul.

Despite declaring victory over IS, the group have reportedly carried out attacks against security forces over the past few days. Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated Iraqi forces and citizens on the victory over IS militants who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014. More than 25000 militants were killed throughout the campaign. Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

In the same context, A senior Islamic State leader was arrested while attempting to flee western Mosul to the eastern side of the city, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ministry spokesperson Saad Maan said the forces arrested while crossing from the western side to the east, carrying a fake ID. The apprehended militant had served as the Islamic State’s so-called “tribal affairs bureau for southern Mosul”.

The Iraqi government said it cleared the city of Mosul from Islamic State members earlier this month, ending a three-year occupation by the militant group. Since then, security forces have been combing the recaptured areas for dormant IS cells and for members fleeing among refugee groups. Many have been arrested from refugee convoys over suspicions of affiliation with IS, while others were either apprehended or killed trying to escape between both sides of the city.

The group has lost most of its senior leaders among more than 25.000 members in the U.S.-backed battles, and currently occupies a few pockets in Nineveh, Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahuddin provinces, albeit amid recurrent reports of internal divisions and power disputes among its ranks. The Iraqi government intends to charge at those strongholds in the near future.