The Iraqi Intelligence Service announced on Wednesday the arrest of the candidate to succeed the former leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who was assassinated by American forces last year.
In a brief statement, the intelligence service said, "Today, the terrorist named Nasser al-Qirdash, the candidate to succeed the criminal (Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, has been arrested."
The statement added that this came according to accurate intelligence. Without revealing the place of detention.
Al-Baghdadi was killed in a US airdrop last October in the countryside of Idlib Governorate (northern Syria).
Later, the organization appointed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi as its leader, succeeding al-Baghdadi.
Usually, ISIS uses pseudonyms for its leaders and members to protect them from prosecution and arrest.
The announcement of the arrest of the potential candidate to succeed Al-Baghdadi in the ISIS coincides with the escalation of attacks by suspected ISIS militants, especially in the region between Kirkuk, Salah al-Din (north) and Diyala (east), known as the "Triangle of Death".
In 2017, Iraq declared victory over the organization, after reclaiming its entire territory, which was estimated to be about a third of the country’s area, and which the organization invaded in the summer of 2014.