BAGHDAD — Fifty Iraqi
Daesh fighters
detained by Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria have been returned home to
face legal action, security services said Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
The
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) handed them over
at the Rabia border post, Iraq’s joint operations command said in a statement.
It said the captives would be questioned by the
interior ministry’s intelligence services, which would take “all necessary
judicial measures”.
Iraq has prosecuted thousands of its nationals on
the accusation Daesh membership, a charge which carries the death sentence
under its anti-terrorist laws.
The SDF has warned of the high security risks of
holding thousands of Daesh prisoners, as highlighted by an extremist jail break
attempt in January in Ghwayran, northeast Syria, that cost hundreds of lives in
several days of clashes.
Iraq also repatriated 100 terrorists in December,
the latest in a string of such operations.
A senior military official told AFP that some 3,500
Iraqi detainees remain in Syrian Kurdish jails, as well as 30,000 other Iraqis,
including 20,000 children, in
Syria’s Al-Hol camp for the displaced.
In contrast to the reticence of Western countries,
Iraq has so far repatriated more than 450 families from the camp.
Iraq announced victory against Daesh in late 2017
after three years of ferocious fighting backed by paramilitary forces and the
US-led air coalition.
But Daesh cells still carry out hit-and-run attacks,
particularly in vast desert regions of northern and western Iraq near the
porous border with Syria.
Daesh has “maintained the ability to launch attacks
at a steady rate in Iraq, including hit-and-run operations, ambushes and
roadside bombs”, a UN report said in January.
It said the terrorist group still has “between 6,000
and 10,000 fighters across both countries (Iraq and Syria), where it is forming
cells and training operatives to launch attacks”.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
