Iraqi security forces reported that a high-ranking member of the leadership of the terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS) has been arrested in a targeted operation. It is the so-called "IS governor" of Baghdad, according to a statement from the media center of the Iraqi security forces.

Clues about the identity and nationality of the self-proclaimed governor were not given for now. It said the detained jihadist was a "prominent leader" of the terrorist organization and was captured as a result of an extensive surveillance operation in a total of three Iraqi governorates. He had in the past been an "IS emir" in Al-Shamiya, Salah ad-Din, Baghdad, the Badia desert, as well as Raqqa in northern Syria, and had planned attacks for the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice in the Iraqi capital. 

IS not finished even after defeat

In the summer of 2014, IS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria and took control of them. Its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in October 2019, proclaimed a caliphate across national borders - with himself at its head. Countless people were murdered in bestial ways, with some 10,000 falling victim to the genocide in the Yazidi settlement area of Shengal (Sinjar) alone. Iraq declared victory over IS at the end of 2017, and in neighboring Syria the militia's territorial rule was ended in spring 2019.

Frequency and quality of attacks continuously increasing

Even though thousands of IS jihadists have since been arrested, the terrorist Salafist organization has still not been defeated and continues to pose a massive threat to the security and stability of both countries. Particularly in regions such as Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa and Hama in Syria and Kirkuk, Baghdad and Anbar in Iraq, clandestine underground structures have formed and continue to carry out attacks. The frequency and quality of these attacks has steadily increased again in recent weeks and months.