Shafaq News..Kurdistan counter-terrorism forces arrest ISIS suspect

2026-09-07T19:11:13+00:00 Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah The Kurdistan Region's General Directorate of Counter-Terrorism said it arrested a wanted ISIS suspect during an operation in the Bazian subdistrict of Al-Sulaymaniyah province on Monday. The agency identified the suspect as Abdulmumin Ahmed Saleh Al-Rifai, alleging that he pledged allegiance to ISIS in Al-Qayyarah in 2015 and joined its logistics and support division. He subsequently fought Iraqi army and other security forces in the group's self-proclaimed Saladin Province. Following ISIS's loss of its territorial strongholds in Iraq in 2017, Al-Rifai fled to Syria and stayed at Al-Hol camp, according to the statement. He returned to Iraq a year later, was transferred to Al-Hajj Ali camp in Mosul, and eventually settled in Bazian. Read more: Iraq's western desert from ISIS hideouts to new security challenges