Iraq arrests dozens of ISIL members in Baghdad

Iraqi officials say they have arrested dozens of ISIL Takfiri militants in the capital Baghdad as the country is gaining major advances against the terrorist group elsewhere in its territory.

Iraqi intelligence issued a statement Sunday saying that 31 ISIL members who have been behind tens of bombings in Baghdad over the past months are now under arrest.

The arrests were made in coordination with Iraqi security officials and the judiciary, the statement said, adding that the suspects have carried out a total of 52 terrorist attacks in the city.

“They confessed to 52 terrorist acts in different areas of our beloved Baghdad in 2014 and early 2015,” the statement said. It also said the operation “resulted in the dismantling of terrorist groups linked to what is known as Wilayat Baghdad”, an entity believed to be ISIL’s provincial arm operating in the area.

Large quantities of arms and explosive belts were seized during the operation along with “silencers, rigged cars and motorcycles, statements, (and) videos of their cowardly operations.”

The arrests were made in various parts of Baghdad, including the north and south. However, no exact date has been provided by the officials, although other accounts suggest they were carried out last month.

Baghdad, a city rocked by explosions almost every day last year, has seen fewer such cases recently.

Iraqi government forces supported by Shia and Sunni volunteer fighters keep advancing against the ISIL militants in the northern city of Tikrit with most parts of the former dictator Saddam Hussein’s hometown now liberated.