Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has announced the arrest of Sami Jasim, a high-ranking member of the Islamic State (IS) who was also the Deputy of the terror group’s late leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in an operation outside the country.
The Iraqi Intelligence Service carried out a complex operation outside the country to arrest Jasim, who was in charge of IS financial affairs, the Prime Minister said in a social media post on Monday.
في الوقت الذي كانت عيون أبطالنا في القوات الأمنية يقظة لحماية الانتخابات،كانت ذراعهم الأصيلة في جهاز المخابرات تنفذ واحدة من أصعب العمليات المخابراتية خارج الحدود،للقبض على المدعو سامي جاسم، مشرف المال لتنظيم داعش ونائب المقبور أبو بكر البغدادي،
بوركت سواعد الأوفياء
عاش العراق— Mustafa Al-Kadhimi مصطفى الكاظمي (@MAKadhimi) October 11, 2021
Al-Kadhimi did not provide further details about when and where exactly the operation took place.
A statement by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said that Jasim was captured in an operation outside Iraq’s borders without giving further details.
Jasim is close to a committee in charge of running the extremist group and to the group’s current leader Abdullah Qaradash, according to a command statement.
The US had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Jasim’s capture.
The IS once controlled 88,000 sq km of territory stretching from eastern Iraq to western Syria and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.
Despite the group’s defeat on the battlefield in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria the following year, it is estimated that thousands of militants remain active in both countries.