Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Security services have arrested more than twenty Islamic State members in several operations in Nineveh province, while weapons and explosives were seized in their possession, security sources said on Saturday.

Speaking to BasNews website, Cap. Amir Watheq, from Nineveh police, said, “security troops arrested eight Islamic State members, possessing hand grenades in Makhmur, southeast of Mosul.”

“Troops cordoned off the area, where the militants were hiding and invaded their houses, then took them to Nineveh Operations Command headquarters for investigations.”

All hand grenades, in their possession, were confiscated.

In related news, Col. Khodier Saleh, of the Federal Police, said, “security services arrested an IS cell, composed of 15 members, which was planning to to attack troops deployed in western Mosul.”

“The cell members, were possessing weapons. All were arrested inside a tunnel,” he added.

Thousands of Islamic State militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.

Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks across Iraq against security troops. Security reports indicate that the militant group still poses threat against stability in the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced, in December, full liberation of Iraqi lands, declaring end of war against IS members. </s> Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Six Islamic State members, including a woman, were arrested in operations in Nineveh province, the Iraqi Interior Ministry announced on Friday.

In a press release, the ministry said troops in Nineveh “arrested six Islamic State members, including a woman. All are wanted for by courts for trials.”

“Two of them were arrested in Abu Maria village in Tal Afar, while the rest were in several areas across Mosul,” the ministry added.

Last week, news reports quoted sources as saying that over 20 IS members were arrested in several security operations carried out in west of Mosul.

Thousands of Islamic State militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.

Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks across Iraq against security troops. Security reports indicate that the militant group still poses threat against stability in the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced, in December, full liberation of Iraqi lands, declaring end of war against IS members. The war against IS has displaced at least five million people. </s> Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi police forces arrested six Islamic State militants in the group’s former bastion, Mosul, a police official was quoted saying on Thursday.

Spokesperson of the Interior Ministry, Saad Maan, said in a statement that the six were arrested in al-Wahda neighborhood in eastern Mosul after a raid of searches, adding that those arrested had arrest warrants issued for them based on the anti-terrorism law.

Iraq declared victory over Islamic State militants in December 2017, ending a three-year military campaign against the group to retake areas they had occupied to proclaim a self-styled “caliphate”.

But even after Iraq declared that the militants lost their territorial influence, the group seems to continue to represent a security concern, launching several attacks against security and civilians and causing several death. </s> Elite Iraqi security forces dislodged Islamic State militants from the main government building in Mosul on Tuesday, their last major city stronghold in Iraq, an Iraqi spokesman said.

A special Rapid Response team stormed the Nineveh governorate building and the surrounding government complex in an overnight operation, Lieutenant Colonel Abdel Amir al-Mohammadawi, a spokesman for the elite interior ministry unit, told Reuters.

“They killed tens from Daesh,” he said, referring to the Islamic State group by one of its Arabic acronyms.

Recapturing the site would help Iraqi forces attack the militants in the nearby old city centre and mark a symbolic step towards restoring state authority over Mosul, even though the buildings are destroyed and not being used by Islamic State. </s> Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi security forces on Tuesday arrested an Islamic State member who, they claim, was behind several ambushes in which security personnel had been killed in the latest period.

Alsumaria News quoted a security source saying that “security forces arrested 11 Islamic State terrorists, including Abu Suleiman al-Afri, who had been responsible for erecting fake checkpoints on the Kirkuk-Baghdad road”.

The source, who asked not to be named, said troops found maps and drafts of attack schemes for the group.

Iraq declared victory over Islamic State militants in December, ending a three-year war to retake areas occupied by the militants in 2014.

Though the government said the group’s territorial influence came to an end, the militants have launched occasional attacks against security forces and civilians, growing fears that it might still pose a security threat.

News reports have said the group had set up several ambushes in which security forces were attacked.

In mid February, the group ambushed several Popular Mobilization Forces members in Saadouniya, Kirkuk, leaving 27 dead. After the attack, Iraqi forces launched offensives to clear remnant militant cells in the province. </s> Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) An Iraqi court has sentenced Islamic State’s legislative judge, who was in charge of marriage contracts while the militant group was in control of Mosul city.

Nineveh Criminal Court sentenced an Islamic State militant to death,” Abdul Satar Bayraqdar, spokesperson for the High Judicial Council, said in a statement on Thursday. “The convict used to work as a judge in the marriage contracts court, within the so-called legislative courts of Islamic State in Mosul.”

On Wednesday, Bayraqdar said the same court issued verdicts against 815 convicts, with 212 death sentences and 150 life sentences over terrorism charges.

Estimates show that Iraq detains around 1,400 foreign wives and children in a facility, north of the country, over doubts of belonging to Islamic State.

Earlier this week, the Iraqi Justice Ministry has announced carrying out death sentences against 13 convicts, most of whom are involved in terrorism.

Six Turkish females were sentenced to death over affiliation to Islamic State, earlier in April.

In March, the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad has sentenced 13 Turkish women to death over the same charge. The same court sentenced number of women to life and death over belonging to Islamic State. Some of them were Azeri, Turkish and Iraqi.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over the militant group, previously in December, however, observers warn that the group still poses a security threat with sleeper cells. </s> (IraqiNews.com) Mosul – Iraqi security forces liberated on Tuesday the state-run Iraq Media Network’s office in the city of Mosul from the self-proclaimed Islamic State extremist group, state TV has announced in breaking news.

“Anti-terrorism forces have entered the city’s first districts, liberated the Iraq Media Network’s building in the east side of Mosul, capital of Nineveh Governorate, and raised the Iraqi flag above,” the report said.

An operation by Iraqi security forces, codenamed “We Are Coming Nineveh”, has entered its 16th day to liberate the governorate, IS’s last stronghold in the country. The campaign reached the east side on Monday, with IS abolishing reference to Mosul as the capital of its proclaimed “Caliphate” and evacuating its camps and secret prisons in the Ghazlani, besides taking out its wounded fighters from the city’s hospitals to an unknown destination.

In a related context, Abdel Karim al-Kilani, media advisor to the Nineveh governorate council, said Islamic State militants are holding 100 former security officers captives inside an ancient church in Babd al-Bid in central Mosul. He suggested that the group holds the captives for fear of a popular uprising against its fighters as Iraqi forces continue to successfully advance towards the province’s capital. </s> (IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – General Commander of Iraqi Armed forces and Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, announced on Monday launching the battle to liberate Mosul from the ISIS grip, and pointed out that the security forces that will participate in the battle are Iraqi army, police and national police.

Prime Minister Haider Abadi said in a speech on state TV, “I announce today the start of the heroic operations to free you from the terror and the oppression of Daesh (ISIS).”

“We will meet soon on the ground of Mosul to celebrate liberation and your salvation,” Abadi added.

Abadi also called the people of Mosul to cooperate with the security forces, and emphasized that the battle will be handled by the Iraqi army and national police only.

Nearly 65,000 military personnel including Iraqi soldiers, Kurdish Peshmerga militia and Sunni tribal fighters were expected to participate in the offensive to liberate the city of more than 5,000 ISIS militants. </s> (IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Iraqi security forces shot down a drone belonging to the Islamic State extremist group, east of Mosul, Al Sumaria News reported on Wednesday.

Al Sumaria News stated, “Anti-aircraft weapons of Iraqi army and Anti-Terrorism forces managed, today, to shoot down a drone belonging to the Islamic State group in Kokjli neighborhood, east of the city of Mosul.”

“The drone was carrying large quantity of explosives, and was used by the ISIS when losing battles,” Al Sumaria News added.

Earlier today, Federal Police Chief, Raed Shaker Jawdat, announced, that his forces liberated 12 villages on the outskirts of Hamam al-Alil.
Iraqi security services announce the arrests of 20 suspected Islamic State militants in raids in Nineveh.