Iraq Ministry: Senior ISIL Leader Arrested in Eastern Mosul

A senior ISIL leader was arrested while attempting to flee western Mosul to the Eastern side of the city, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry spokesperson Sa’ad Ma’an said the ISIL leader was arrested while crossing from the Western side to the East, carrying a fake ID. The apprehended militant had served as the ISIL’s so-called “tribal affairs bureau for Southern Mosul”, Iraqi News reported.

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 ISIL cells and for members fleeing among refugee groups. Many have been arrested from refugee convoys over suspicions of affiliation with ISIL, 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 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.