BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities said Thursday they have managed for the first time to have a top leader of the Daesh group extradited from Turkey.
Ismail Alwan Salman Al-Ithawi, 55, was tracked to Turkey鈥檚 Sakarya region, detained and returned through cooperation between Turkish, Iraqi and US intelligence agencies, a senior official in the interior ministry鈥檚 Falcons unit hunting Daesh members told AFP.
The break came after his unit had 鈥渋nfiltrated the highest levels鈥� of the extremist group, he said.
A native of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, Ithawi was the group鈥檚 鈥渕inister鈥� in charge of religious edicts and headed a Daesh committee that decided on senior appointments, according to the official.
He had fled the group鈥檚 now-shattered 鈥渃aliphate鈥� in Syria and was living under his brother鈥檚 name in northern Turkey.
鈥淲e asked our ambassador in Ankara to intervene with the Turkish authorities by providing the arrest warrant issued by Iraqi courts and recent photos of Ismail,鈥� the official said.
Daesh swept across Syria and northern Iraq in a lightning advance in 2014, unleashing a reign of terror across a vast swathe of territory that lasted some three years.
The group鈥檚 territory has now been wiped out in Iraq and reduced to a small foothold in Syria by a series of punishing assaults in both countries.
The focus has since switched to tracking down the group鈥檚 senior leadership and the thousands of foreign fighters who once flocked to its banner.