Iraqi intelligence officials have uncovered an ISIS plot to carry out a large-scale atrocity in the UK using British terrorists.
The plot was uncovered after a unit, dubbed the Gold Division, carried out a raid on a fanatical ISIS cell hiding in the desert, Iraq.revealed the ‘s counter-terrorism chief, General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi.
The general said the Islamic State terrorists were based in Britain and had been making plans for a “big attack” at a large public gathering.
Al-Saadi has been leading his troops as they prepare for their next SAS-style advance against the terror group, also known as Daesh, The Mirror reports.
The general said: ‘We found out that the UK is the next target out of Iraq.
Britain-based Islamic State terrorists have been making plans to commit an atrocity at a major public gathering, according to Iraq’s counterterrorism chief, General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi.
Dubbed the Golden Division, Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service uncovered the international plot after killing a militant cell in a desert hideout just days ago.
“In the last few weeks we launched major operations against Daesh or Islamic State and killed a large number of terrorists, in one raid there were about five, all of quite high rank,” General al-Saadi said.
“I can tell you that based on information we found at the site of one of our recent raids, the next planned terrorist attack will be in the UK.”
The general described the cell members as British citizens, adding that the material is now in the hands of the British secret services.
He added: ‘We have evidence that terrorists here are in contact with extremists in the UK, and that they are conspiring.
“I can’t say what form the attack they want to launch would take, as it could be a car, a knife, a gun, a bomb.”
The general added that the cell seeks to maximize its attack “in public” and that the group’s “four priority countries” in Europe are the UK, France, Belgium and Germany.
The general spoke as his troops practiced maneuvers in 46°C heat at Baghdad’s airport.
Members of the Iraqi Federal Police take cover as smoke billows from a large explosion.
The exercises included soldiers storming a simulated hideout, using helicopters and practicing with two dozen armored vehicles and machine guns.
The Islamic State, formed from the remnants of al-Quaeda, has claimed thousands of lives, including dozens of UK citizens, in its brutal quest to create a caliphate.
The group captured vast swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014 and used civil war unrest to seize control of parts of eastern Syria as well.
As of late 2015, between eight and 12 million people lived within the borders of Islamic State, within which it enforced its barbaric interpretation of Islamic law and became notorious for its widespread human rights abuses.
Since then, the group has receded, and by 2019, it had lost the last of its territories in the Middle East and instead reverted to being an insurgency.
The group was led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during its most prominent years (2013 to 2019) before he detonated a suicide vest as US forces surrounded him. Since then, several of its leaders have committed suicide or been killed in action.
Iraq is eager to announce that it has defeated ISIS within its borders and is throwing resources at the remaining factions of the terror group.
On Sunday, an Iraqi soldier and an officer were wounded during an anti-terror raid that also killed three suspected Islamic State group fighters, Baghdad security forces said.
The military operation in Kirkuk province, north of the Iraqi capital, targeted “three figures of the Daesh terrorist group in the Turkelan region,” security forces said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for IS jihadists. After the suspected IS members were identified, Iraqi troops closed in and a clash broke out.
Iraqi counter-terrorism teams conduct a drill including hostage rescue scenarios
The jihadists “were surrounded and killed, the explosive belts they were carrying were detonated,” the report said.
Islamic State jihadists seized swaths of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014, declaring a “caliphate” which they brutally ruled before being defeated in late 2017 by Iraqi forces backed by a US-led military coalition.
Despite the setbacks, the extremist group can still call on a clandestine network of fighters to carry out attacks on both sides of the porous border, the United Nations says.
I am Rakesh Sharma, I associated with Elite News as an Editor, since 2021. I take care of all the news operations like content, budget, hiring and policy making.