Iraqi authorities captured and repatriated two Islamic State (ISIS) members found outside of the country, the National Intelligence Service said on Saturday.
Issam Abed Ali Sueidan (Abu Zeid), was identified as a primary propagandist for the militant group in Fallujah. He confessed in a video released by the intelligence service to beheading an Iraqi soldier in Fallujah and to creating propaganda for ISIS.
The second ISIS member, Bashir Abed Ali Sueidan (Abu Ahmad), was responsible for telecommunications in Fallujah. He stated in a video recorded by the intelligence service that he was in charge of encrypting telecommunications for the group’s officials. He also said he was once held in a US-run prison at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.
Bashir Sueidan said he escaped to Qaim near the Syrian border after a government offensive against the militant group and remained there until 2017, when he escaped from Iraq.
The two men were shown onboard a small plane. The Iraqi Intelligence Service did not describe where the main were captured and it is unclear if they are related.
United Nations experts said in a report published in August that between 5,000 to 7,000 ISIS members remain in Iraq and Syria. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) hold about 11,000 ISIS suspects in detention in northeast Syria, including 3,500 Iraqis.
According to the UN, the majority of active ISIS members at large are “fighters” but the group has cut back its attacks to “facilitate recruiting and reorganization.”
