DAMASCUS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2019) Iraqi Defense Minister Najah Hassan Ali Shammari said on Thursday the country's authorities had detained several members of the Islamic State terror group (IS, banned in Russia) who fled from Syria.
"Several IS militants who had fled from Syria were detained on the territory of Iraq," Shammari said in a statement as quoted by the INA news agency.
No further details have been reported.
On Wednesday, the minister was briefed on the situation on the Iraqi-Syrian border.
Shammari said those who had illegally crossed into Iraq would be persecuted and border security would be boosted.
Since October 9, Turkey has been conducting an offensive against Kurdish-led militia and the IS in northern Syria. The offensive has prompted various security concerns, specifically since there are several prisons for captured IS members and their family on the territory where the operation is underway.
Notably, on Sunday, the self-proclaimed Kurdish Autonomous Administration in Syria said that at least 785 prisoners associated with the IS had escaped a prison camp in Ayn Issa with the help of whom it called Turkish mercenaries in northern Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the claims about the IS member escape from the Ayn Issa camp were disinformation.
