World Bulletin / News Desk
Iraqi forces rounded up 22 people during a security swoop in the northern city of Mosul on Monday, according to the Defense Ministry.
In a statement, ministry spokesman Bri. Gen. Yahya Rasoul said the suspects were arrested in Badoush district, some 30 kilometers north-west of Mosul.
He said security forces had defused ten improvised explosive devices and destroyed a tunnel used by militants during the operation.
Thousands of people have been arrested by Iraqi forces for suspected ISIL links since the terrorist group was driven from Mosul late last year.
Last December, officials in Baghdad declared that ISIL's military presence in the country had been all but dismantled following a three-year war.
Iraqi security forces, however, still sporadically mount operations against what they describe as ISIL “sleeper cells”.
