Iraq nabs senior ISIS bomb maker after 10-month hunt

Shafaq News – Baghdad

A senior ISIS member specializing in bomb-making was arrested on Tuesday, Iraq’s National Security Service (INSS) said, noting that the operation capped more than 10 months of surveillance and monitoring.

Identified as a “high-risk operative,” INSS stated that the detainee’s name appeared on leadership lists of several extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda. His activities trace back to 2004, when he operated in Baghdad under the alias Abu Alia. During that period, he focused on assembling improvised explosive devices and led a five-member cell tasked with carrying out several attacks.

Investigators also determined he specialized in linking detonators to mobile phones and supplied more than 100 triggering devices while active in Baghdad, directly contributing to attacks across the capital.

“Abu Alia is experienced with double bombings, a method intended to strike rescue teams and security personnel responding to an initial explosion,” the Service added, noting his arrest is part of the Service’s ongoing effort to track and dismantle ISIS remnants in Iraq.

Despite its territorial defeat in 2017, ISIS remains active in Iraq, particularly in the Triangle of Death—Kirkuk, Saladin, and Diyala—through sleeper cells that carry out guerrilla attacks, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion to destabilize the region.

In early 2025, security operations across nine provinces eliminated 50 ISIS fighters and led to the arrest of more than 40 others.

Read more: On ISIS defeat anniversary, Iraq confronts a reawakening insurgency