Turkish counter-terrorism forces have arrested the former head of ISIS’ military operations in Iraq’s Sinjar region, security sources said Tuesday.
Abdulkhaliq al-Kurdi was apprehended during a morning raid in central Turkey’s Kayseri Province. His son Mehdi was also arrested.
The two suspects were taken for questioning in Kayseri’s police directorate pending their referral to trial.
Tens of thousands of members of the Yazidi minority fled an August 2014 massacre committed by ISIS in Sinjar, and UN rights investigations have documented horrific accounts of abuse suffered by women and girls.
The arrest of al-Kurdi and his son is considered among the successful operations carried out by Turkish forces to arrest ISIS suspects.
In July, Turkish authorities arrested the wife of Abu Omar al-Shishani, a top ISIS commander killed two years ago.
Seda D. was apprehended along with four others during a counter-terror operation in Istanbul.
Shishani —born Tarkhan Batirashvili in Georgia— was the “minister of war” for ISIS and appeared on many videos. US military said he was killed in Iraq in July 2016 during an airstrike.
