UPDATE - Iraq captures high-ranking member of Daesh/ISIS terror group

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Ali Jawad and Halime Afra Aksoy

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraqi security forces have captured Sami Jasim al-Jaburi, a high-ranking member of the ISIS/Daesh terror group, the country's prime minister said on Monday.

Jasim was in charge of the group's finances and a deputy of slain leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi tweeted.

"While our heroes (Iraqi security forces) focused on securing the elections, their colleagues (Iraqi national intelligence services) were conducting a complex external operation to capture Sami Jassem," he said.

Further details on the operation were not shared.

Al-Jaburi was "one of the most wanted internationally ... and close to the current leader Abdullah Qardash,” said a statement by the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s Security Media Cell.

In 2014, he supervised the group’s revenue-generating operations from illicit sales of oil, gas, antiquities and minerals, according to the US Rewards of Justice Program’s website.

He was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist list in September 2015 by the US Department of Treasury. In August 2019, Washington announced a $5 million reward for information on finding him.​​​​​​​

Turkey in 2013 became one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS a terrorist group.

The country has since been attacked by the terror group multiple times, with over 300 people killed and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed assaults.

In response, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.