BAGHDAD — Iraq has captured the alleged finance chief of the Islamic State group, Sami Jasim al-Jaburi, who was sought by the United States, in an operation abroad, Iraqi authorities said Monday. Jaburi, also the suspected former deputy to the late IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was arrested “in Turkey”, a senior Iraqi military source told AFP without elaborating. IS took over one-third of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014, expanding their self-declared “caliphate” stretching across the Syrian border. Iraq’s government declared victory against the jihadists in late 2017 after a grinding military campaign backed by a US-led military coalition. IS sleeper cells still periodically launch attacks in Iraq, against both the security forces and civilians.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer October 11, 2021 12:22 UTC