Key deputy of slain Daesh leader arrested in Iraq

by Theleaders-Online | December 4, 2019 4:26 am

BAGHDAD: Iraqi police arrested a key deputy of deceased Daesh leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Kirkuk province yesterday, Anadolu Agency reported, quoting Iraq’s Security Media Cell communications body.

Abu Khaldoun was the terrorist group’s military commander for Salah al-Din province.

He was arrested in the town of Hawija, carrying a fake ID card.

Under Baghdadi, Daesh spread over wide segments of Iraq and Syria beginning in 2013, eventually claiming the formation of a “caliphate” in the region as it plotted and carried out gruesome attacks that reached far beyond its main territorial bastion.

It further set up local affiliates in other regions as it released heinous execution videos on the internet.

Baghdadi had been a top target for the US under both the Trump and Obama administrations and had a US$25 million bounty on his head.

As the US-led coalition took back territories once under the terror group’s hold, Baghdadi increasingly stayed in the shadows, only rarely releasing pre-recorded audio messages to his followers.

Bernama

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